A Red Sky's Warning
by nixdragon
Summary: Charlotte Swann knows she will hate every single second she has to spend chasing after pirates but with a missing sister and a broken heart, she figures at least things aren't going to get much worse. Unfortunately, everyone else seems to be trying to prove her wrong. Sisfic. Norrington/OC. Coverpic by Jan
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Charlotte stared numbly over the open waters.

She was smaller for her age, shorter than her twin Elizabeth with a tendency to 'catch cold' anytime something required her to meet new people. Lately, her father had been catching on to this trick and she'd been looking for something new.

Traveling to the new world was hitting her quite hard.

It didn't help that Elizabeth talked so much about what they would find there. When Charlotte read them both to sleep, Elizabeth asked for the stories about monsters and thieves and called it adventure. Charlotte could barely stand the introductions to the few officers her father had thought worthy of meeting them: if she met a pirate, she was prepared to faint.

She'd been practicing the fainting ever since her father had announced the voyage. Her father had yet to discover it but Lieutenant Norrington had caught her once when she'd thought she was hidden in the shadows below deck. He had been very kind about it.

She now hurried away whenever she saw him coming.

Monsters and pirates aside, Charlotte felt she wouldn't mind life on a ship. She enjoyed watching the waves crashing against each other and the ship. Everyone had a job to do and left her alone. She didn't even mind Mr. Gibbs muttering about bad omens: so far, she had yet to experience anything interesting much less...

Charlotte's little face began to frown.

Somewhere her sister was singing, she realized. And that was it. That was all Charlotte could pick out.

Slowly a fog was coming in, slowly her sister and the ship were all she could see.

Charlotte picked her way across the ship like she was dancing, following the pattern of the rolling sea and stepping around the sailors she refused to look up at. Elizabeth had stopped singing but hearing the quiet tones between her, father, and the lieutenant made Charlotte feel far, far away. It was likely about pirates, Charlotte thought, suddenly more exasperated then wary.

"Look!" Charlotte jumped as her sister yelled. "A boy! In the water!"

Charlotte stayed right where she was, watching the rush to fetch the boy out of the water. Her eyes slowly went to the fog that surrounded them. It seemed to cling close to the ship, separating it from warmth and home and anything that had made her happy out here. It didn't make sense that any normal boy could have broken through that barrier somehow.

She began to rethink everything Mr. Gibbs had told her about luck.

There were yells and suddenly they were dragging the boy toward her.

Charlotte ducked back, skirt brushing the deck as her body instinctively made itself smaller. The ocean was safe. The waves were safe.

She walked to the rail and looked out.

Elizabeth and the books were right.

There were monsters out here.

Charlotte held her breath as she leaned over the rail, any hint of numbness dead and gone. She gripped tighter, not sure what the empty ringing in her ears was as she saw the fire and the ragged flag.

And the bodies.

The boy had not been the only person hidden in the fog.

Charlotte leaned further and further, trying to find a sign of something, anything, she wasn't sure what she'd even been looking for. The rail was too tall, it was blocking her view.

'What if someone is under the ship? What if we miss them?'

She leaned further forward. She realized she was feeling very, very dizzy.

"Miss Swann!"

" _Charlotte_!"

The little girl wanted to turn and assure her father she was alright but it seemed more important to wonder why the water was growing closer. And what was this blackness around her vision? Annoyingly, she didn't have much time to figure this out: a second later, she was already being dragged back by an arm around her waist. She was yanked backward roughly and then she found herself lying on the deck, her head cushioned against the impact by the lieutenant 's shoulder.

A moment later, she was in her father's arms instead and the lieutenant was wincing and rubbing a shoulder.

So _that_ was what fainting really felt like.

At least she had a good reference now.


	2. Chapter 1

A little over eight years passed and Charlotte found herself practicing a smile in the mirror.

She was worried about her smile.

It seemed fake.

Elizabeth had a way of smoldering over her smile and distracting others from her true feelings-others she didn't care for anyway. Perhaps that was the problem. The people Elizabeth didn't care for were the very people Charlotte had always longed to impress.

Life had been much easier when she was small enough to hide behind her sister.

Charlotte gave up on the smile and tilted her chin up. That worked. If she wasn't happy, then at least she had to act as though she didn't care. As if she knew she was the prettiest girl in the room and nothing else really mattered.

The young woman almost cursed as she spotted a lock of dark hair that had caught on her beaded collar. Her maid had come and gone and done everything she could while she'd been there. It wasn't her fault that Charlotte had chosen to stay up late worrying about looking her best for James'-stop it-Lieutenant Norrington's promotion. It wasn't her fault that Charlotte had even pestered the information out of her father in the first place.

Charlotte pinched her cheeks-maybe the pink would distract from the darkened circles?

The mirror disagreed.

The elder Miss Swann turned on her heel, checked her 'I don't care' look over her shoulder, and glided from the room. A knock on her sister's door found her father and sister eyeing a new dress, Elizabeth still in her dressing gown. Charlotte raised an eyebrow at the dress and then nodded in satisfaction at her father's choice. Her father responded with an amused smile.

"Not going to ask for your present, Charlotte?" He gestured to a servant and clean white box appeared in the man's hands. "My, you have grown up."

"Or I know by now to just expect your bribes, Father," Charlotte took the box and gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek.

Elizabeth laughed and walked around the screen to change. Charlotte opened the box to find a hat, also obviously the latest fashion from London. She grinned and walked straight to the mirror, fixing the same pesky lock of hair before placing the hat in place.

As Charlotte continued to preen, their father was trying to be subtle. "I did think you could wear it to the ceremony today." He told Elizabeth.

"Ceremony?"

"Captain Norrington's promotion ceremony." Charlotte called over dramatically. She tilted her chin up and studied the smile. It looked much better under the hat.

Elizabeth poked a head out, pretending to look scandalized. "It's a good thing you aren't a gossip, Charlotte, or half the officers would be ruined."

"Oh, more than half." Charlotte said smoothly.

Their father coughed. After years of finding an awkward little girl eavesdropping on closed meetings, he rarely even tried to keep things from his eldest daughter anymore.

"Yes… Right… Ah, Captain….rather, Commodore Norrington now…" As her father got closer to the point, Charlotte very carefully pretended she wasn't listening any long. Elizabeth gave her sister a look of sympathy which went ignored before she was tugged back behind the screen. "Elizabeth, he fancies you, you know."

This was not a surprise. Charlotte tilted her hat carefully. She tilted it back. She very carefully wondered which other dresses the hat would match.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the butler calling for their father. Charlotte's shoulders dropped the second her father was gone and a moment later an arm was looped around hers.

"How do I look?" Elizabeth peered into the mirror beside her sister. "Lovely hat."

"Lovely dress." Charlotte's smile was real as she said this. "Shall we go see who this visitor is?" Her voice was a bit brittle but Elizabeth seemed not to notice.

"I'll be right down," Elizabeth whirled away.

The elder twin let her smile drop and studied her reflection one last time.

She turned on her heel and marched down to meet her father, various pleasantries already exchanged by the time she made her way to the bottom of the stairs to stare curiously at the sword held out between her father and the blacksmith's apprentice.

"How beautiful." Charlotte said.

The men both jumped.

"Quite," Her father coughed, trying to recover. "And Impressive. .. very impressive. Commodore Norrington will be pleased, I'm sure. Do pass my compliments on to your master."

"I shall," Will returned the sword to the case as he nodded in reply, leaving the box open as Charlotte stepped closer to examine it. Charlotte ran a finger over the gold that Will had worked into the sword's handle and tried to pretend she didn't sense the slight twinge of disappointment in his voice. "A craftsman is always pleased to hear his work is appreciated."

"Charlotte, please be careful." Her father sounded nervous enough that Charlotte pulled her hand from the sword-how he'd known she was about to try to get a closer look at the blade, she didn't know. Her hand went right back to the sword as her twin appeared and distracted the men. "Ah, Elizabeth! You look stunning!"

Her father grinned proudly up at his youngest as she descended the stairway. Charlotte looked up long enough to see her sister's nervous smile, Will's returning lovestruck look, and then Charlotte was examining the soft lining of the sword case and refusing to listen to anything they were saying.

A few moments later her father was taking the case and Elizabeth was adjusting Charlotte's hat and the three Swanns were walking out the door.

Charlotte could have sworn she heard Will call her sister's name as they left.

A few moments later she knew she wasn't going to manage that smile today after all.

..

True to her decision, Charlotte glowered throughout the ceremony. She actually enjoyed it quite a bit: watching the soldier's formations and movement, the flash of the sword as it was presented, an excuse to watch Norrington, the sunshine dappling through her new hat. None of her contentedness made it to her face and at the end of the ceremony, as the celebration began, she realized she was already very tired.

Charlotte walked away from the bustle of people and found herself overlooking the docks below. She wished she was young enough or alone enough to sit and dangle her legs-or lay sprawled out to peer over and see the length of the wall she stood atop. A few thoughts more and she was remembering the last time she'd been down on those docks, stepping off of a ship. She wished she could make sense of the things she missed. None of them seemed reasonable.

"May I have a moment, Miss Swann?" Commodore Norrington asked, apparently drawn by her thoughts.

Charlotte nodded stiffly. "Of course, Commodore."

"You may know… It is my intention to state my intentions to your sister." He caught a slight frown of confusion and his voice become rushed. "Of marrying your sister. But I know you disapprove of me." The confused frown became deeper. "So I wanted to ask what I might do to gain your approval. As we shall soon be family."

Well, this certainly hurt.

"I wish you both happiness," Charlotte said finally. That was what people said, wasn't it?

"Miss Swann, please. What can I do, what do you need to know to decide I'm worthy of your sister? She cares what you think and…" He considered his words. "I don't wish for there to be trouble between you and I."

"Oh, no, of course not." This shouldn't be so difficult… Should it? What did he want her to say?

He waited.

She shifted nervously, trying not to wring her hands. Her face stayed a mask of disinterest.

"Miss Swann, I-"

Charlotte caught a strange movement behind him as she looked up. She had just enough time to focus her eyes and find the shape of her sister before, about one hundred feet away, her sister stumbled backwards and off of a cliff.

" _Elizabeth_!" Charlotte was there what seemed a moment later, staring down at an empty ocean, a splash and no sign of her sister. The wind tugged at Charlotte's hat and she absent-mindedly placed a hand above her head to hold it in place.

The water began to erase any marks of contact, waves returning to their normal pace. Men were shouting, panicking around her as she stared down. Charlotte began to feel dizzy.

There wasn't time for that.

In a daze, still not quite aware of what anyone had said or was currently yelling at her, Charlotte spun on her heel and began to run. She felt a bit ridiculous, one hand on her head and one lifting up her skirts as she sprinted toward the docks. Charlotte stumbled and caught up her skirts with both hands as she continued running, her hat flying off to hit one of the soldiers chasing after her.

She made it to her sister just as Elizabeth finished coughing up lungs of water. Charlotte ignored the three men standing over her twin, throwing herself on her knees to wrap her arms around Elizabeth.

"You lost your dress," Charlotte realized weakly. She had a moment of relief that she didn't have follow her loose plan of leaping into the ocean to save her sister and then sighed as she realized her shivering sister was getting her wet anyway.

"You lost your hat," Elizabeth replied.

Charlotte reached up absentmindedly and found that her hair had tumbled down as she ran. She shook her head helplessly before pulling her sister to her feet. Soldiers were gathered around them now, Norrington had his new, beautiful sword at the chin of one of the men who'd been helping Elizabeth. Charlotte let their father take Elizabeth and considered the man as Elizabeth accepted a man's coat. She'd never seen someone quite like him.

He smelled terrible.

Elizabeth interrupted the beginning of Charlotte's growing theories. "Yes - yes, I'm fine - Commodore Norrington, do you intend to kill my rescuer?"

All eyes darted between Elizabeth and the stranger. Norrington frowned, looking between the two as well and catching the concern on Charlotte's face before he drew back his sword.

The commodore held out a hand and Charlotte let out a small noise of protest that no one heard. "Very well." Norrington said. "I believe thanks are in order."

Charlotte turned away, assuming things were calming down. She had enough time to admire the nearest ship before she caught the end of Norrington's speech.

"... _pirate_."

Charlotte examined the man as a dozen guns were raised on trained on him. She considered him again for a moment and found she was not surprised.

Elizabeth began attempting to save the pirate.

Charlotte began attempting to fix her hair.

She was growing more and more embarrassed about her run down the wall now that her sister was father seemed more upset then Elizabeth about anything that had happened. Still… Charlotte pinned up a lock of hair and stepped closer to her sister, keeping at her side just in case Elizabeth tried to pull something and needed a helping hand. Or distracting hand.

The argument continued, uninteresting, as the pirate was manacled and made his own snarky comments. Elizabeth was scowling by the end and turned to her sister for commiseration as the soldiers prepared to lead the man away. Charlotte gave her sister a reassuring nod, not really sure what she meant. They could keep trying? Elizabeth had done what she could? It was over now?

"Finally!"

Charlotte's head jerked back toward the pirate in time to see closest soldier stumbling away as his gun flew off into the water. The pirate spun toward the Swann sisters and Charlotte gave a panicked squeak and shoved her sister as hard as she could straight back into the ocean.

And Charlotte found herself with the chains of a pirate's manacles across her throat, a dozen guns now pointed at her as she fought violently and in vain to get free again.


	3. Chapter 2

The pirate tightened the chain around her neck to stop her struggle and for a second Charlotte was accidentally pulled off of her feet. The sound of her choking brought an unconcerned but sincere apology from the pirate. Everyone was staring at her in panic. The Commodore was furious. She could feel the noon sun beginning to burn her forehead where her hat had abandoned her during her sprint through town.

It was all unbearably humiliating.

"My pistol and belt, plea-"

Charlotte suddenly kicked off the wooden pier with all the strength she had. The pirate stumbled backward, yanking the girl again by the neck. She choked but followed by seizing the chain with both hands, ducking under just enough. As her forehead scraped chain, she lowered one arm to give him a panicked elbow to the stomach.

She felt his arms brush her back as he tried to catch his balance, both of them following her momentum back toward the dock's edge. He was already falling as she looked back over her shoulder.

She heard the splash as her own heels tilted over the edge of the dock.

Her body twisted as she fell, desperate not to land beside the surely very angry pirate. Her arms grasped at the air as her eyes found the ripples where the man had disappeared, already being erased by the waves.

A wave of dizziness joined the adrenaline, then calmed it, then swallowed her whole.

She slammed her eyes shut but she could still see the fuzzy reflection of her face, it wouldn't leave her mind. Then the world shifted- _she was still falling, she hadn't turned her head but she was looking straight west into a sun that was suddenly_ setting _._

 _A woman's voice whispered a name._

 _The vision moved toward the sun until all she saw was_ bright _light. When it vanished she was somewhere open with only the sound of the sea and Will Turner was beside her. She had just enough time to recognize his face and then it was the Commodore's face and he was shaking his head and telling her-_

Then she was yanked back into another set of arms.

There was a lot of yelling and footsteps thundering away down the pier but Charlotte was shaking too hard to worry about that.

Or she was until she recognized the voice yelling and it began to ask her in softer tones if she was alright. She peeked one eye open. Then the other.

"Miss Swann, are you hurt?"

"James?" Charlotte's voice was dazed. It took her a moment to realize what she'd blurted, her mind moving too slowly to even feel too embarrassed.

He looked surprised but nodded. "He's gone. You're safe. Are you hurt?"

"I.. No." Charlotte shook off the strange vision but instantly brought the dizziness back as she jerked her head toward the end of the dock. "How is Elizabeth?" She asked, letting his hands steady her at each elbow-she would have fallen over if she hadn't.

He turned to look and she followed his gaze to a spot a little nearer then she'd been searching, her hand tightening on his jacket sleeve as she fought for steady knees.

"Murtogg, Mullroy, escort Governor Swann and his daughters home. Stand guard until relieved." He handed Charlotte off to one of them and frowned at her. "Is that alright, Miss Swann?"

She was still holding onto his jacket sleeve.

"Oh. Yes. Thank you." She leaned into the guard's elbow and uncurled the white knuckles of her other hand, her fingers numb from holding on too tight.

"We'll find him." The Commodore followed the direction the footsteps had taken earlier, most of his men marching briskly after.

Right. There'd been a pirate.

Charlotte glanced nervously up at the sky to find the noon sun right where it should be. The sounds of Elizabeth approaching and their father trying to fuss over her snapped Charlotte back to reality and she gave a shaky laugh and murmured apology to her soaking wet sister.

In the back of her mind she was desperately trying to remember the name she'd heard, desperately searching for where she'd heard it before; it must have been a memory, mixed with what she'd seen today. It must.

But as they walked home, Charlotte staring at the cobblestones of the road the entire time, she couldn't think of any story or book where'd she'd read that name before. They arrived at the house and Charlotte went straight to the library, scanning through books of history and stories but nothing her father had bought had anything she needed. And it was becoming an itch she couldn't scratch.

Who was Eos?

...

Charlotte ate supper in the library but had no further luck. She was beginning to feel ill with worry by the time the sun actually set and went so far as to ask her father if he'd ever heard of a place or person named Eos. His blustered reply eventually turned into a no. She thanked him, declared that she was tired, snatched her cloak from the unwatched front hall, and snuck out a back door into the dark.

At some point the guards had left, the pirate having been captured in town. Still, she wasn't sure her father wouldn't have kept someone just in case his daughters were worried and so she kept to the back of the house and continued off the path until she neared the town. Charlotte was sure this was going to be fruitless but she couldn't think of anything else. And so she made her way through side streets and alleys to the blacksmith's and cautiously opened one of the double doors.

"Will?" Charlotte whispered. She crept through the door, keeping an eye out for Will's master. " _Will_?"

Nowhere in sight. Charlotte picked up her skirts, wrinkling her nose as she made her way across the straw and dirt of the blacksmith's floor. Her eyes cast over the rows of swords lining the wall, absentmindedly picking out her favorites based on which seemed most glittery. Will had scolded her for that when she was younger, before she'd decided it was scandalous for a young lady to be quite so curious about swords. It still seemed too beautiful though, sword fighting-like dancing. Dancing that could leave you scarred or dead. Blast it, where was Will?

She hissed his name again and then spun around with a scream as the door opened behind her.

"Miss Swann?" Will swung the door closed behind him, a bundle of tools in his arms. He looked around the room as he dumped his things on a table. "What are you doing here?"

"Could you answer a few quick questions?" Charlotte waited for his answering nod but found she didn't quite know what to say. Will began setting out his tools and organizing the shop. She walked the wall, frowning at the rows of swords and straightening a few before asking casually. "Have you ever heard the name Eos?"

She looked over her shoulder. Will was giving her a puzzled look.

"No? Interesting." She turned and headed back toward the door, pulling a cloak tight around her shoulders.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?" He moved toward her and she worried he was going to stop her but he simply stopped beside the door. "Who is Eos?"

"I'm not sure. I just… heard it today."

"Why would I know?"

"Oh." Charlotte had been prepared for an interrogation. She had not thought of this avenue of conversation and hadn't rehearsed it. "They mentioned you too. It must have been coincidence."

"Someone was talking about me?"

"No. Not exactly."

A scream rang out through the night.

Another.

Then another.

Will and Charlotte both reached for the doors, swinging them open an inch to gaze out into the street and then slamming the doors right back into place. Their eyes met, Will's narrowed and Charlotte's wide.

Port Royal was under attack.


	4. Chapter 3

"Pirates," whispered Charlotte. "More. Pirates."

"That about sums it up, Miss Swann." Her annoyance was nothing compared to Will's expression as he snatched swords off the wall and handed one to her. "I need to go."

Charlotte looked down at the sword in her hand and considered: her play with swords years ago vs how close she'd already come to dying that day already. "Be careful."

Will let out an ironic laugh. "You as well."

With a grunt of effort, Charlotte yanked the door open for him and he slipped out to join the fray. She hurriedly barred the door behind him and closed her eyes to listen for any sounds that would mean he had immediately been impaled or captured. Nothing. He was probably alright then.

Charlotte turned, her heart racing in her ears as she found herself alone in the dirty forge, darkness lit only by a glimmer of moon through some crack in the ceiling. The smell of metal and straw and the sleeping mule were much worse now that she was trying not to hyperventilate. She found herself fidgeting with the sword as the sound of fighting grew louder. She could hear strange, haunting laughs. And there were so many of them.

Something slammed against the door behind her.

She couldn't help it.

She let out one.

Little.

Scream.

 _You should have gone with Will._

"You hear that?" An eager voice said, maybe a foot behind her.

 _You should have gone with Will you should have gone with Will you should have gone with Will._

The sword suddenly seemed awkward in her hand, her skirt and cloak were twice as heavy-the door, on the other hand, now felt about as much protection as the sheets she should be tucked safely between.

"Eos, this is all your fault." Charlotte gasped.

Her eyes found the back door and she sprinted toward it, fighting the temptation to simply toss the door away. A peek through the keyhole showed a few more pirates stalking about, looking for a victim.

 _YoushouldhavegonewithWillyoushouldhavegonewithWillyoushouldhavegonewithW-_

The panicked silence exploded in a crash of glass and a whoosh.

The dark room was suddenly filled with light.

Charlotte Swann turned slowly to consider this new development.

She studied it for a long moment.

"That door is on fire," She muttered. She blinked. "Oh. Oh! Oh, no."

She looked around desperately but she couldn't make out much as her eyes failed to adjust to the contrast of pitch dark versus the fire licking the outside of the door. She would have to go on memory-when was the last time she'd even been in here? Charlotte considered letting loose a curse as she ran toward the spot she remembered mule's harness and a large pillar. She swallowed the curse down with another scream as she rammed her shin into something large and sharp. The room was getting brighter as someone stabbed at the weakening door, fire peeking through the holes along with a sword. Charlotte raced the rest of the way to the column and clambered her way up into the rafters, clenching her own sword gingerly between her teeth.

Three pirates burst through the door as she reached her goal, one hand braced around the pillar and one against the ceiling above her.

She had a sudden urge to scream for Norrington. If he heard her, he would come running. He would save her. He had before, hadn't he?

But he wouldn't hear her.

She only had herself.

The crack that had let the moonlight trickle in was just behind her. She studied it as the pirates snuffled about below. She was sure there had been a window here, now apparently covered up with something. Charlotte closed her eyes. How close was the building next door? How fast could the pirates follow her?

"You said you heard a scream," One of the pirates complained.

"I did!"

Charlotte held her breath as a short shoving match broke out. She let herself crouch down on the rafter, shifting the sword back into her hand.

"Enough!"

Charlotte looked to the door to find another pirate, a man with a bushy beard. The wind seemed to sweep in behind him, what little fire had been left flaring up again to light his face just as he stepped into the moonlight.

Charlotte barely stopped herself from falling back with a start. A small, intrusive thought considered what an ignoble death that would have been-the rest of her was horror. Pure, swelling, crushing horror as the other pirates moved toward him and she caught traces of moonlight trickling across them as well.

She was mad.

That was it.

She was mad or she'd eaten something and now she was hallucinating.

She'd hallucinated 'Eos' and she was hallucinating skeletons and she was so, so scared that it didn't matter that this couldn't possibly be real…

"We've got the medallion. What are ye wasting your time here for?" The scraggly beard grew full again as the moonlight left him.

"We heard someone," Another pirate whined.

"Well, that's easy enough to fix, now ain't it?" The bearded pirate leered.

Without any sign of pain, the man snatched a splintered stake off of the burning section of the door. He disappeared for a moment, letting the other pirates walk out.

Charlotte slipped the door back between her teeth and struggled to her feet.

There was little chance of this ending well for her.

She had just enough time to sidle over to the boarded window before a stake of wood came flying in like a spear and exploded in fiery splinters all over Will Turner's livelihood.

Charlotte decided to blame this on Eos as well.

Then she slammed the heel of her palm against the roof.

She felt the wood give way, nails on the outside of the roof pulled from their home as she hit against it again and again. Blood was trickling down her arm-and down her leg for that matter, where she'd already injured her shin-but the room was growing lighter and she wasn't sure if the pirates meant to look for her once there was more light.

The board came loose with a low clatter. It was about half as much space as she needed to get free.

The girl tasted salt and the tang of steel as sweat hit the sword and trickled onto her lips. She slammed her hand against the next plank, berating the sword in her head as she wondered again if she should just drop the thing. If she was startled again, if the growing smoke made her cough; she wasn't going to hold on to the thing much longer anyway.

Her eyes stung from the fire as well. She was starting to understand the anger she'd seen on Will's face before he left, the disgust on Norrington's face as he'd looked at Jack Sparrow. She'd just decided to have a good talking with her sister about just how 'adventurous' pirate stories where when a much louder clatter rang out and Charlotte looked up to see the stars.

She saw just enough space for a young, awkward woman named Miss Swann to squeeze through.

She launched herself between the leftover planks.

She was free.

She listened for a moment: no shouts. No one appearing to check for the noises she'd made.

She was safe.

After that it was a simple matter to leap onto the next roof and pick her way across the block to a spot where she could clamber down. Charlotte could hear the sounds of the town changing from panic to mourning and clean up. She made her way to the ground and inspected her hands, nearly fainting as adrenaline wore off and she felt the pain of her hand and leg begin to throb. Worse, she felt the layers of sweat and clinging smoke in the fabric of her dress and across her face and hair.

She was disgusting.

Charlotte did what she could to smooth down her hair with the unbloodied hand then slice off a bit of her cloak to wrap around both of the wounds. She staggered down the road and up to Swann's manor to find her home in a panic. There was shouting and soldiers running in and out. Every light in the house appeared to be lit, hurting her smoke stung eyes as she approached from the darkness of the ruined town. The door was hanging open and there was… there was a sheet over a servant where he had fallen beside it.

Charlotte stopped when she saw that, finding herself staring at it and wanting to throw up from fear and guilt and who knew what else. She was so tired.

"Miss Swann!"

She was grabbed from behind and had to fight off a start, strong hands gripping her around the elbows and walking her firmly across the room. This was worse, that same intrusive thought popped up: this was so much more embarrassing than simply falling to her death.

She realized she'd been crying just as she looked up to meet the eyes of Commodore Norrington. He brought her to a small couch off to the side of their room and kept his hands firmly around her elbow as she turned to look down at it, confused for a moment before she realized he wanted her to sit down and that she was instead clinging one-handed to his jacket again. A few thoughts later and she realized she was staring tearily into his worried, hazel eyes.

So, so much worse.

Charlotte abruptly let go of his coat and sat down. "What happened here?" She managed.

Norrington held up a finger and yelled for someone to get fetch the governor and a doctor. He looked uncertain as he turned back to her. "I'm sorry, Miss Swann. But it appears… it appears they took your sister."

"Took… _took_ her?" She stared at him and she saw a hint of apology in his expression. Her eyes went to the fallen servant and then to the door and to the village beyond it. Her fingers ran over the hilt of the sword she still carried. Norrington grabbed her hand and gently stilled her fidgeting before she could hurt either of them. "Hmm?"

"Miss Swann." Norrington had said her name several times before her thoughts had managed to catch up. "We'll find her. I will do everything in my power to find her."

"Of course," Charlotte said vaguely. She turned back to find him looking concerned. "Of course, you will." Her eyes traveled back toward the open door. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Miss Swann, I don't think you are well enough to-"

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" Her father rushed in grabbed her up into a hug, smothering her a bit against his crooked wig. He pulled away to glare at her. "Where have you _been_?"

"I…" Charlotte nodded in reply to Norrington's polite muttered goodbye as made his way back to his men. "I wanted a sword."

"A sword!"

Her father continued to bluster as the doctor finally appeared and rebandaged her injuries. Both men looked very concerned as the doctor pulled a splinter the width of a small flower stem out from under the makeshift wrapping on her hand. The governor went back to scolding his daughter as the doctor ordered her to drink plenty of water for her scratchy throat. There was a short discussion about the bruises on her neck from the attack from Jack Sparrow and then it was decided that Miss Swann should go to bed and rest for as long as possible.

At this point, they tried to take the sword from her uninjured hand.

Charlotte yanked back, wincing as she instinctively formed a fist with the free hand and felt blood begin to well up again. The doctor made a tsking sound but she hid the hand behind her back and insisted that he go. That she was fine. If her father hadn't been there, she might have been brave enough to ask about hallucinations caused by fear but instead she simply insisted that she was fine, that they should be focused on Elizabeth, not her. A few minutes more of reassuring her father, one more tight embrace, and she found herself traipsing weakly up to her bedroom, none the wiser about what was happening to her.

She fell into bed still in her dress and cloak, a sword clenched tightly in on hand, and a dresser shoved in front of her bedroom door.

She fell asleep planning how to save her sister.


	5. Chapter 4

Charlotte found herself panicking the next morning. She managed to keep her hands steady by brushing her hair and studying herself critically in the mirror but she found she couldn't look away without imagining a skull in place of her tired face. She'd dumped out a bowl of wash water and kept the curtain hung to block out any light from the outside world.

If what she'd seen was real, there was nothing she could do about it.

If what she'd seen was a hallucination, there was nothing she could do about it.

There was nothing anyone could do about it.

Charlotte's eyes grew vacant and she placed down the brush beside Will's useless sword. Less than a day ago everything had started going so wrong. Her hands moved to a few ribbons she'd borrowed from her sister along with a teasing argument about who's coloring pink would match better.

She didn't really mind the skeletons or the vision now that she thought about it.

So what problems did she mind?

Elizabeth.

Will's livelihood.

What was likely to be a very angry scar on her right hand.

Charlotte had dismissed her maid an hour ago, claiming she needed more sleep. She'd then spent an hour swinging her sword with her off-hand, building up another layer of sweat while she mulled over exactly what her father and the militia were going to do about those three problems. As she now sat, still filled with restlessness, she found that the answer started with not much and went down from there.

Charlotte studied herself for a long moment.

What exactly was _she_ going to do about it all?

She only seemed to find more problems:

How much she wanted Elizabeth at her side for the next stupid thing she did.

How much she was going to hurt their father.

How disgusting she still felt and how much she wished for a bath.

With movements far more careful and precise then they needed to be, Charlotte bound her hair into a braid at the nape of her neck. She gave the door a sheepish glance as she fetched her cloak and slipped it on, tucking the braid into the collar and studying her face again now that it lacked the frame of a frilly dress and delicate curls.

Charlotte sighed.

She would never in a million years pass a careful inspection but with the right clothes and help it would do.

First, though, she needed to know more.

…

An hour later, Charlotte marched through town with her chin high, the clothes one of the servant boys with her own dress looking lumpy over it, hair slightly disheveled. Both a pistol and a purse filled with coin from her father's safe lay tucked beneath her dress-the purse lighter from what she'd left the servant boy. She held her cloak to her chest to disguise some of the oddness of her appearance as she walked down the cobblestone streets and tried to stay unnoticed by those cleaning up.

She found herself clenching and unclenching her injured hand just to do something with the pain as she tried to think.

She'd been through her father's library the day before and hadn't seen anything about pirates. She had a feeling that if she knew the right people in town, they might be able to help her but she didn't know those people. She didn't know anyone but Will and he hadn't been anywhere to be seen in the five minutes she'd spent looking. She'd tried asking her father a few questions as she caught sight of him on the way to the fort, hiding the borrowed clothes beneath her cloak. Charlotte got the name of the attacking ship- _the Black Pearl-_ and had tried to get more, but he'd simply blustered and told her to go get some rest.

She needed a captive audience.

So she was headed for her one other option.

She neared the fort wall and found it less guarded than usual, every spare man down with the Commodore or rebuilding the city. As she stepped into the door, she was hit by both the smell and the silence: it occurred to her that there was no one to hear her and for a moment she was back in the rafters and choking on smoke and heat.

She placed a hand on the pistol on her hip and considered how much effort it would take to wrestle it out. Instead, she pulled out her cloak again and threw it over her. She pulled the skirt up behind her and slipped off her shoes so no hint of who she was showed under the cloak.

It was easy to find the pirate again.

He was the only prisoner left.

Charlotte lowered herself to sit cross-legged outside the cell, not enjoying the new feeling of dirty stone floor prickling the bare skin of her legs. She studied the man inside as she shook off the discomfort. He rested with a hat over his closed eyes and didn't react to the sound of her approach. The smell was much worse now.

"Jack Sparrow." Charlotte whispered.

"Captain."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes and studied him. "Where's your ship?" She kept her voice rough.

The man just sighed. "Do you need something?"

Charlotte chewed on her lip. This was stupid. This was unladylike and idiotic. This was pointless.

"Do you know anything about magic?"

"Magic?" the pirate sat up and studied her, unable to see much under the hood of her cloak. He let a slow grin craw onto his face. "Or curses?"

Charlotte looked confused. "No, just… just magic." She blinked. "What curses?"

"I didn't say curses."

"You… So you don't know about magic or visions?"

"Depends. What will you give me if I say yes?"

"I don't know." Was this going better or worse than her conversation with Will? "What do you want?"

"My ship." He sat back and the hat went back over his eyes. " _The Black Pearl_. You wouldn't happen to have it in your pocket, would you?"

Charlotte's brow knotted, searching for any little bit of information she might have that he didn't. If she could make him just as curious as she was… Something jogged, something that had been tucked behind the memory of the horrible face that had mentioned it.

"What if I had a medallion?"

"You don't." He closed his eyes.

"No. Those pirates do… But I have gold. I could bribe the guard. Or trick him… I could…" Charlotte had nothing. " _Please_ tell me what you know."

"Why don't we start with a name?"

Charlotte scowled and pretended to misunderstand. "I already know your name. I'm not going to pay for it." Her breath grew faster and she gathered her cloak tighter as she found that the air was no longer quite warm enough. "And I _saw_ the captain of 'your' ship. So you can stop pretending."

The pirate lifted his hat to study her face. "What did you see?"

Charlotte leaned in, probably too close to the bars, too afraid of her memories and where her sister was to care.

" _They were dead."_ Her voice slipped out in the tone she'd once used to tell Elizabeth her horror stories, once used to repeat Gibb's superstitions. " _They were walking and laughing but they were_ dead _."_

Jack Sparrow leaned forward. Before he could reply, a door swung open below and the sound of hurried footsteps began to echo closer.

Charlotte's eyes widened and she threw herself into one of the empty cells, tucking herself against the wall and pressing both hands against her mouth. It seemed unlikely that Jack would tell the newcomer about her, not when she was his best chance for freedom.

And then she realized it was Will.

"Are you familiar with that ship? The Black Pearl?"

That sneaky, little...

Charlotte whirled out from her hiding place and gave Will a dry smile. "He says he used to be its captain." She said.

At the same time, Sparrow said, "Somewhat."

She turned to him and they shared a glare.

Will placed a hand on her shoulder, voice urgent as he continued. "Where does it make berth?"

Jack took on the same voice Charlotte had used, whether because he'd like the effect or because he was mocking her she wasn't sure. "Surely you've heard the stories? The Black Pearl sails from the dreaded Isla de Muerta... an island that cannot be found - except by those who already know where it is."

"Is that where the curse is from?" Charlotte said eagerly.

"If I say yes, does that mean you have to get me out of here?" Jack asked. "Or do you want their treasure all for yourself?"

"Their what?" Charlotte flinched.

"Never." Will added. She looked up and saw him study her apparel, the dirt on her face, her bare feet. "We want to find Miss Swann. You _must_ lead us to her."

Jack smirked. "So it is that you found a girl. Well, if you're intending to brave all and hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady's heart, your friend has already agreed on a price."

Charlotte looked pleadingly up at Will. "We'll never find her alone. No one will find her without him." He nodded, barely thinking it over. She turned back to the pirate. "I'm Charlie." Let him think she was hiding her gender; it would keep him away from her true worth.

"Charlie." He smiled. "And how are you acquainted with the Miss Swann and our young man?"

Will swept back, carrying a bench. "He's my brother," Will told him. He set the bench against the door and motioned them both back.

Jack watched with yet another knowing look. As Will did his magic and the door fell open, the pirate stepped forward and grinned at them.

"Your name is Turner." The pirate declared.

Charlotte had already made an introduction; done with the small talk, she moved to the door and began checking the way ahead. The pirate and the blacksmith followed soon after, the pirate's arms now filled with his strange belongings and Will's face annoyed yet again.

"What do we do now?" She asked as they cleared the wall and moved onto one of many paths down the beach.

"What pirates do." Jack waved dramatically toward the bottom of the path.

Charlotte's eyes followed the gesture, found the harbor and the sea.

Will didn't look away. "We steal a ship?" He guessed unhappily.

Jack grinned.

"We steal two ships."


	6. Chapter 5

Charlotte kept an eye on the two men as they began to consider their opportunities but did not stay to assist.

She needed to get out of the dress.

They were standing a bit of woods a few feet from the fort, just far enough down the path to see more of the beach and the harbor. Charlotte stepped around a corner as though to keep watch and quickly wrestled the loose dress away from the boy's clothes she'd worn underneath. She considered. She tossed the dress aside and tucked her hair under her collar again. Loose top, tight pants, all so unusual and uncomfortable.

And now she would be stuck on a ship with two people. No escapes there.

Charlotte checked the men were still discussing; she tucked herself back around the stone wall again and considered, tapping a hand against the solid stone. Then, decision made for good, she took her last moment alone in Port Royal to wave over a little girl and pay her to fetch a bit of pen and paper and then to deliver a vague message to the house, addressed to her father. It was hours til lunch and she had no other reason for him to return there sooner.

If he did return? If she were caught? Would it be bad luck or good?

The momentum of life, death, and lost sister was starting to lull. If she waited too long, she would be crippled with fear and then she would never see Elizabeth and she needed to see her sister again, just once.

Pirates were scary.

Friendly acquaintances were awful.

Charlotte's sister dying was incomprehensible.

Will waved Charlotte over not a moment too soon.

Charlotte followed the men further down the beach, letting Will make conversation and supplying her most noncommittal 'mmhmms'. She was glad he was there to talk to Jack now that she'd gotten what she wanted. She was more than glad to use Will as a brother figure to hide behind, a nice fallback as she thought of all the people out there she didn't know. It was a trick she'd once used often, but Elizabeth hadn't been good for that since they were fourteen and Charlotte's height had caught up to her twin. As they snuck down the beach toward a few derelict rowboats, she decided she was happy to bring it back.

Charlotte was less happy ten minutes later when her feet touched the water and she found herself sneaking forward between the two men with a rowboat held above their heads.

 _No vision. Please, no vision._

She screwed her eyes shut and they continued, using the weight of the boat to hold them down, using the air caught inside it to move forward, forward, forward. She did not open her eyes once. The water was warm and heavy on her clothes, tugging strangely on the loose boy's shirt. She was pretty sure she'd gotten another splinter. And she'd been so careful to hold the injury away from the boat!

"Charlie, can you swim?" Will asked suddenly.

"Oh."

Her breath began to speed up.

Jack interrupted. "Ah. Gentleman, we've found an anchor."

Charlotte didn't want to look. "You two first."

A pause. Then Jack said, "After you, then."

The sound of a splash.

Another splash.

Well.

Charlotte considered a moment and then experimentally lowered her head under the water. Instantly the overwhelming emptiness was gone. She opened her eyes and she saw water. She saw an anchor and chain and Jack's boots disappearing as he pulled his way upward. She waited.

Nothing.

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut, popped up for one last gulp of air, and followed her co-conspirators up toward what was now an enemy ship.

…

Charlotte breached the water with both hands gripping tight to an anchor's chain and her eyes yet again shut. The girl moved up, refusing to let herself think about the burn of climbing now that she was out of the water, the burn of salt water against her yet again bleeding hand. As she threw a hand through the rail and looped her elbow round it, she peeked through to see the ship's guards backing off the ship in the face of two 'vicious pirate' blades.

They looked more annoyed than afraid, she thought.

Charlotte raised the hood of a sopping wet cloak, tucked her chin down into its shadow, and with a final surge swept up onto a bit of rigging to loom in the background behind Will and Sparrow. She held out her useless pistol.

A beat of startled eyes on her.

She told herself to stare them down, to say _nothing._

A beat of the world slowing to the time of the waves sloshing against the ship and her heart reminding her of its panic.

They weren't moving.

She lost that plan. Her voice slipped out, rough from lack of breath, sharp with irritation.

 _"Do not tempt the desperate, my friends."_

The soldiers looked from her pistol to her hooded face and finished fleeing the ship.

Charlotte felt her cheeks burn. Had she really said something that stupid? That dramatic? She should have stayed hanging off the side, not saying things that sounded like they came from Elizabeth's favorite stories. And the stupid hood: as if they wouldn't figure out in an hour who she was. And tell everyone. Everyone was going to know. Norrington was going to know what she'd done.

They would all know what she'd said.

And her hand really hurt quite badly where she held the pistol.

Will and Jack got the ship headed out as she searched out a bit of dry bandage. As they began to move out toward open waters, Charlotte found the pirate approaching her.

He reached up and tugged her hood back with a wink.

She glared at him and wished for a hat.

"Starting to regret following your brother, young Turner? Or are you really desperate?" He studied her. "And desperate for _what_?"

Charlotte stepped away and drew her sword, starting to cut away at various random ropes. They were supposed to be destroying the ship, weren't they? That had been the plan?

"Is it fame?" Jack took a look behind them and evidently decided they had some time. "Or just treasure?"

"I'm... loyal to my family," Charlotte mumbled.

The pirate watched her, picking out weak points before moving off to destroy a mast with Will. She wished she hadn't interviewed him, that she'd known to wait for Will. Had she ever said a word and not regretted it?

Charlotte hid a sheepish smile and went to loot the main cabin, leaving the other two to finish the sacrilege of destroying a perfectly good ship. When she slunk back out, they had finished up and a glance back showed her the _Interceptor_.

She'd heard her father brag about the _Interceptor_ twenty-three separate times.

She hadn't needed anyone to convince her it was their only chance.

Charlotte imagined she saw the Commodore though in truth they were all much too far to pick out who might be who. There was an ugly curse and she wished briefly that she'd had a chance of convincing James to come instead of this disgusting pirate. She couldn't daydream much further-if he'd come, it would have been for Elizabeth. Instead, she shared a look of disgust with Will and then the ship was almost on them and she was forced to find a rope and stand ready and hidden with Will and Jack.

The wind and sun dried that last bit of ocean from her hair.

The waves were calling to her again.

She ignored them.

There was quite a bit of yelling as the soldiers arrived. She heard the thuds of their boots and Commodore's commands and she was swinging. The world was so big and overwhelming and blue. The ship so far away and flimsy on the waves.

She couldn't look down, she couldn't look down.

Charlotte landed awkwardly, bruising herself against her sword hilt as she stumbled onto the _Interceptor's_ deck. She hurried to catch up to the others, drawing her blade to slice at the ropes that lashed the ships together. The two men left her to it, both running to start the ship moving as she reached the back of the ship and snapped the last few ropes. On the last one, the ship jerked away and she fell against the wooden rail. Instinctively she looked down to catch herself.

Her eyes grazed the surface of rolling water.

Her heart pinched...

No vision came.

Just…

Approval?

 _Oh, that was so much worse._

The ship continued forward and Charlotte looked up one last time to find that now she could, indeed, pick out the Commodore in the crowd. And his eyes were already on her.

Charlotte could see that he recognized her.

Charlotte could see him growing smaller.

She could see confusion and shock and horror, harder to see as the water flew past her ship and his ship began to fall apart.

What she wanted, wished, ached to do was just hold his eyes defiantly and sail off boldly toward adventure. Instead, her mouth was a line and the Commodore found a pair of eyes that grew sadder as the girl behind them wondered if she would ever even see him again. If it mattered either way.

Charlotte's hands tightened on the rail.

She could help but lean forward, feet raising onto her toes, lifting up onto the rail as though it could help her get one last peek.

Across the waves, Norrington moved jerkily toward the bow of his crippled ship, ready to yell a warning or a command as he saw her tipping off the back of the ship. He stopped before the words could even fully form in his mind. For once, Swann's daughter wasn't falling.

Where she stood across a widening ocean, Charlotte was just saying,

"Farewell."

And maybe it was Charlotte's imagination but…

Far away as they were…

She heard the word return on the wind.


	7. Chapter 6

Charlotte's next step was to find a pile of canvas meant for repairing sails, drag it into the sun at the base of the mast and curl up for a nap. She vaguely noticed Jack and Will having some sort of argument but by the time she opened one eye to see, Will was already back on deck and safe so she went back to sleep.

The young woman woke an hour later and began her exploration of the ship, leaving her belongings at the base of the mast along with her cloak and the extra canvas. She found some more ammunition for her pistol and spent a few minutes in the crows nest and every once in a while she would see Sparrow adjusting something and stalk over to watch what he did. She a little afraid he would pull the same trick on her as he had on Will and kept an eye of the ropes she'd seen controlling the yards nearby. Instead Jack made some comments about the sea being in her blood as well and began to order her around.

She was struggling again: the pirate had told Will he knew Will's father and Will's sibling, whether Jack thought it a brother or sister, would be curious about that. But it wasn't really her business. She stopped thinking about this when she realized she was chewing her lip to shreds and had retied a knot four times in the wrong spot.

Sea in her blood. Ha.

Judging by her time underwater, the sea didn't care for or about her one bit.

Charlotte helped guide the ship until sundown, when they reached the port called Tortuga and Will threw down the anchor and Jack docked the ship. The two men were already on the dock as Charlotte snatched up her cloak again and hurried to the rampt they'd laid down.

Then she hesitated.

The sea she'd been ready for.

The ship she could see herself falling in love with.

This town was repugnant.

Her feet stepped forward and then stopped, watching Will and Jack as they met a pair of women and Jack was slapped by each in turn. What kind of place was this?

She took a step back.

The sound of the town grew quieter. Suddenly all she heard were the waves, lapping and calling below. The wind tugged at her cloak, trying to catch her attention like a cat.

No.

She was _not_ going to risk fainting in a place like this.

Charlotte dashed after the pirate and her 'brother'.

She was in such a hurry she bumped into Will from behind. He glanced down, saw the look on her face, and threw a friendly arm around her shoulder. "You alright, Charlie?"

"I am living my nightmare," Charlotte hissed.

Will nodded. "The smell is something, isn't it?"

"I can hear you." Jack replied. He muttered something to himself, something about directions, and turned to walk to the right. He stopped and walked the opposite directions. Considered. Then he continued on the way they'd been going.

Will and Charlotte shared an uncertain glance. They stepped apart and followed the pirate toward an pirate stopped in front of some sort of pen and began looking around for something. Will joined him and Charlotte began to move closer when movement caught her eye.

At the corner of the main street and alley a dark form suddenly shot out a hand and gestured at her. Charlotte raised a skeptical eyebrow and studied the figure, face and appearance hidden in the shadows, just a pile of rags and a sign offering fortunes told. Charlotte turned away.

"Eos is watching you." A man's voice called from the rags.

Charlotte jerked around so quickly she slammed her arm against the nearby house. "Who?"

He held out his hand and repeated the gesture.

Will and Jack were arguing with someone who sounded drunk. And they were nearby, weren't they? Charlotte sighed and walked toward the man, stopping out of reach of the hand. She was going to get a reputation for wandering off, wasn't she?

The man still held out his hand. "A coin." He said.

Fine. Charlotte let the cloak fall over her so he couldn't see where she kept the purse and fished out the least valuable coin she owned. She refused to move closer, though, and tossed it lightly toward his hand.

She missed.

His hand snapped the coin from the air like a shark seizing its prey and Charlotte jumped another foot back. His other hand drew out a string and he quickly tied one end around the coin she'd tossed him. Then he pulled out a paper, crackled and brown, and laid it down in front of him. Charlotte leaned forward, just a little, and saw pictures scribbled at random around the paper. Objects, shapes, and a few words she didn't know. The ink was faded and the colors were more splashed on then painted. She'd never seen anything like it.

The man held the string and let the coin swing in front of him. It started with a bounce, jerking the string as he dropped it, and then an ocean breeze caught the string and sent the coin spinning in a circle around the paper. Charlotte didn't move. The man didn't move. They watched the coin.

The circle grew smaller as it lost momentum, circling finally above the right side of the paper. The man watched as the coin finally swung back and forth between two pictures. A cloud. A flame. He nodded and let go of the string. It landed halfway between the pictures, on a bird.

"When you see the clouds, cover your face and sail. The winds will guide you and then you must follow the flames." He snatched up the paper and considered the word. "Don't take the pirate with you. He is already spoken for."

"What?"

"Charlie!" She turned to find Will waving her over, the man already walking away with Jack. She turned back.

The man was gone.

She'd been right.

This place really was a nightmare.


	8. Chapter 7

Charlotte stared for a moment longer at the empty corner. She briefly entertained the idea of writing down what he'd said but Jack was threatening to leave her behind and that man had just been…

No he hadn't been messing with her, had he?

Elizabeth would have loved this.

Charlotte was simply steeling herself for the inevitable arguments when they found out she how poorly she was prepared. Honestly if she kept acting like herself they might just forget she was there. Charlotte caught up, hiding just behind Will again and then thanking her lucky stars that she'd allowed herself that comfort.

The drunk stranger was _Gibbs?_

Charlotte checked that her hair was tucked away and pulled her hood up again, wrapping herself up as though she was cold. She would have thought that he could be trusted: she remembered him being a good man with common sense. She'd loved his stories and superstitions…

...when they didn't involve kicking her off the boat for being a girl.

No, she didn't want him to recognize her.

Though she was experiencing rather a lot of bad luck.

They arrived at a grungy looking bar and Charlotte barely stopped herself from running straight into Will. She followed at the back, checking that no one was watching or following as she closed the door. She noticed a few looks as they walked through the crowd; some annoyed at the men, quite a few curious looks at her. She knocked the hood off and the looks continued. It took her a few minutes to figure out that even hiding behind her companions she was standing stick straight and walking like she was on her way onto the dance floor.

She let her shoulders curve down and put the hood back up, slumping against the wall when they stopped to grab drinks for Jack and Gibbs. She kept things the same as they walked back through the crowded room and slumped against a pillar as their little group slowed again. The looks stopped.

Charlotte turned her attention back to her allies as Will took position beside her. The pirate and Gibbs slipped into a side room, empty except for a few people discussing at wooden booths.

"Where are they off to?"

"Jack's just trying to convince him to help." Will looked away distractedly as drunk laughter broke out across the room. Charlotte hugged herself tighter: she'd never heard a sound quiet like it. "He knows people. And we need a crew."

Charlotte frowned. She should have paid more attention. She should have asked questions before they'd left the boat. She should have made herself ignore how awful and dark and dirty everything was because there was no way she and Will would have been left behind if that was all the others were discussing.

Of course, she would never have been brave enough to stop them.

But she could have gotten Will to argue for her.

Charlotte could see the two men. They were arguing but keeping their voices down. She wondered for a moment if she could slip across the room and listen under the next table but there were too many people and Jack did glance over at her every so often.

"Charlie…" Will groaned. Was he annoyed at her or the drunk woman trying to flirt with him? "What are you planning?"

"Nothing."

"No. That's what you said to your father when you decided to make me teach your swordplay. What are you planning?" He gave the woman a polite smile as he tried to pull away.

Charlotte tried to find the words to help him. She had nothing and Jack was looking at Will again.

"I just need some air."

Charlotte waited to see if he would disagree. Will just looked sorry for her.

She turned and walked outside, trying to look… tough? Harmless? Not like herself? As the door banged behind her again and the yelling muffled she turned to her left and made her way to an ally beside the bar. She'd walked about fifteen feet from watching the pirate to get to the door so they were probably the same distance down the alley.

The area of wall was fairly solid. Charlotte squatted down, gathering the cloak up so that it didn't trail in the muck. She spent a few seconds looking for a knot or crack and finally finding one that she could look through and actually see a sliver of Jack's boot. She turned her head and pressed her ear to the knothole, facing the street and keeping as still as she could.

Gibbs was the first voice she heard. "What about the lil' one then? You called him 'little Turner'."

"Him? Maybe. Maybe he really is Bill's. Maybe he just looks more like his mother. But Will's the sure thing, savvy? He's how I get the Pearl."

"Oh, aye."

They both stood and she turned her eye back to see them heading back to Will. She heard a whisper of Jack teasing that they'd already lost her. She pulled away before she could get caught and went to wait by the front door. What did Will's father matter? Was he one of the pirates? And their tone: secretive but not saying anything that she could use to tell Will. Not saying anything worth the risk of leaving them behind.

Charlotte bit her lip and then decided to take a risk, a tiny risk. She glanced at the door. It was still closed. She turned and walked down the street, weaving through people until she was looking down the alley where she'd seen the man in rags.

No one there.

A gust of wind blew in from the sea and she shuddered, hand going straight to her sword. She'd hidden the gun to well. She needed easier access to it. She needed to figure out how she was going to protect herself and Elizabeth-and Will for that matter-when this all went wrong. She need to find out if he was really expecting this pirate to get them there and not betray them. She needed her sister.

"There you are!"

Charlotte glanced up at Jack and nodded absently. "You find a crew?" She said when he seemed to expect a reply.

"You'll meet them tomorrow." He assured her. He looked down at the air where she'd been staring and then back at her. "Anything to share with the rest of us?"

Oh good. Instead of thinking she was rude, he thought she was crazy. Wonderful.

"I just felt like something was watching me."

Jack looked around. There were dozens of people watching her. And him now. The streets were crowded and she'd been standing in the middle.

"Right." Charlotte said. "To the ship?"

"To the ship." Will agreed as he caught up. "Stay close this time,will you, Charlie?"

"Right." Charlotte said again. "Well…" Maybe she should look into the ocean again. Maybe it would be different at night.

Gibbs and Jack had moved ahead. Will was shaking his head.

"Charlotte. Please take me with you."

That seemed reasonable.

"Alright." They began walking. She hesitated, not wanting to be a bother, then added. "And you watch your back. They seem to hate the pirates who took Elizabeth but..."

He nodded. "But they are also pirates. Same to you, Charlie."

As soon as they reached the ship, Charlotte returned to sleep in the pile of ropes again, using her cloak as a pillow and curling up like a cat. The three men disappeared below deck, will calling good night. Charlotte called it back and settled some ropes over her cold feet, dreading the idea of waking up in the morning. Tomorrow there would be so many new people aboard. But tomorrow they would actually start heading toward her sister.

Her eyes were closed when she remembered she'd wanted to look into the water.

She considered for a moment but her body refused to move.

Tomorrow then.

Everything would change tomorrow.


	9. Chapter 8

A line of pirates ran along the dock between the ship and the town. Most seemed bored. Jack was supposedly deciding whether to hire them but none seemed to think there was any uncertainty in the near future. Though neither Jack nor Will seemed very impressed as they walked down the line.

Charlotte was not walking anywhere.

She hadn't even bothered to leave the ship.

Several of the pirates did seem a little put out by that. She'd caught a few of the men glancing at her out of the corner of their eye. Charlotte refused to acknowledge them, keeping her face still as she stood with one hand on the rail and another ready on her sword. Was there any chance that Will could train her without anyone seeing? She liked feeling this intimidating, with her cloak billowing and the sun glinting off the hilt of her blade: it was almost as nice as wearing the perfect dress and going an entire dance without her hair coming loose.

Charlotte's head cocked to the side as she considered: if she'd been able to let her hair down, would she feel more or less a brilliant picture?

Not that any of those people actually saw her how she felt.

Likely they were wondering what that small, strange child on the ship was daydreaming about.

Charlotte sighed.

She was ridiculous.

She ducked away to drop her cloak under her pile of rope, next to a bag of powder and the note she'd finally written that morning to record the strange man's advice. By the time she returned, an argument had started.

Her eyes closed as she hovered on the edge of the gangplank, taking a deep breath for patience. Then she crept her way behind the line until she was directly behind the person yelling at Jack.

Just as the woman pirate slapped Jack across the face.

Charlotte's eyes went wide and before she knew it she had her sword in her hand. Jack recovered from the slap and began to give a sleazy grin.

"Borrowed.I-" His eyes focused on the woman. They then found Charlotte behind her, sword raised, face panicked. "Borrowed without permission. But, ah…" His hand, just below the woman's eyeline, waved frantically for Charlotte to stop. "With every intention of-" The woman's head jerked down to stare at his hand. "Giving it… back."

The woman whirled to find a very confused looking Charlotte lowering her sword.

She whirled back.

"Backstabber!"

"I will get you another boat!" Jack said hurriedly.

"I wasn't going to stab you." Charlotte then looked down at the blade her hand. She tucked it behind her back and winced as the woman glared at her.

"He wasn't going to stab you!" Jack agreed.

The woman eyed Charlotte. Behind her, Jack was making more desperate hand gestures. Charlotte looked to Will. He seemed as confused as her. She looked back to see Jack rolling his eyes.

" _Say something."_ He mouthed.

"Um," Charlotte said. They all waited. They were all staring at her. Charlotte defaulted to polite society. "I'm Charlie. How do you do?"

"I… He stole my ship." The woman explained. Charlotte waited. "I'm Anamaria?"

"Pleasure to meet you," Charlotte replied. She felt like she was dying. She barely remembered in time that she was a boy and had a sword and shouldn't curtsey. "Jack, why did you steal Anamaria's ship?"

The pirate looked very much as though he wanted to run away.

"He'll get you a _better_ ship." Will offered..

Jack seized the chance immediately. "A better one!"

"That one," Will added.

"What one?" Everyone's eyes followed Will's pointing finger to _the Interceptor._ Jack and Charlotte winced. "That one?"

Anamaria tensed.

Will nodded. Charlotte glared at him.

"Aye, that one!" Jack agreed. He turned away, getting as far away from Charlotte and Anamaria as he could. "What say you?"

Two dozen voices yelled "Aye!"

Charlotte jumped. Then she slunk back to the ship, refusing to look up; she didn't want to know if anyone had noticed.

This plan turned out to be about as well thought as her attempt to defend Jack a moment earlier as everyone followed her onto the ship and began spreading out to various posts and preparations. Charlotte leaned against the mast, just beside her little coil of rope, dithering as she tried to find something she could help with that no one would have to teach her.

She was scowling at the rope and canvas bed-wondering where she could move the possessions she'd hidden there and where she might have to sleep if someone decided to use it-when she was finally approached. Charlotte looked up in time to see the brim of a hat, right before it hit her in the nose and she had to snatch at it to get it off. She lowered the hat to find Jack grinning.

"Found you that. Bit less… creepy than your… looming, hood thing." He waved his hands around his face and then gave up and made a face instead.

"My cloak?" Charlotte wrinkled her nose. The hat was similar to his, a tricorn. "It's this Anamaria's?"

"I asked her. She said its fine." He leaned forward, speaking in a conspiratory stage whisper. " _She_ doesn't have anything to hide anymore."

Charlotte considered. She didn't really care if he knew she was a girl: it was the Swann bit that would be trouble. Then again she had other, more pressing secrets: she may as well throw him off the scent.

So she pushed back the hood and slammed the tricorn onto her frizzing, sea-tortured hair, and asked with as much confused naivety as she could:

"How will a hat hide me from Eos?"

A breeze whipped past the hat, but Charlotte was still in the process of straightening it and simply continued holding on, pretending there was nothing more then her and a confused Jack.

"Eos?"

"Yes. I… assumed you… You don't know anything."

Jack didn't reply.

"I… figured you would. She.. he… You were already claimed. They said." Charlotte shook her head, dismissing it. She began to pull of the cloak. As she continued, she tossed it onto her rope pile and threw her sword and sheath on top of it. "If you don't know Eos… then what are those pirates claimed by? Who made them… what they are?"

"You're asking a lot of questions."

"Answer one. And I'll answer one of yours."

The ship began to move. Charlotte looked up as a generous wind filled the sails and caught sight of Will and Gibbs talking off to the side. She looked away from Gibbs quickly.

"Alright." Jack turned and walked away.

Charlotte blinked for a moment. Then she took off after him so quickly that she tripped on her makeshift bed and caught herself on her injured palm. She scrambled to her feet and hurried to the front of the ship, her face and neck hot with embarrassment. Jack was holding his compass.

"I told your brother he was a pirate." He continued as she arrived.

Charlotte nodded but hugged herself uncomfortably. The water was rushing by within three feet on either side and the wind was biting her cheeks, begging her to look down. The pull inside _and_ the wind now? She didn't have time for this.

"But you're not like him," Jack added, stowing the compass and looking up to find her looking very distracted.

"Is your question if am I a pirate?" It was nice that she was always so annoyed with him that she could talk and not care as much if she was being stupid.

"No."

"Is it about my father?"

"No."

"Is it about the..." But she had noidea what else a pirate might care about. "Just ask me, Mr. Sparrow. Or answer one of my questions."

"I am not part of the curse on Barbossa and his men," Jack said. "And I am going to save my question, Mr. Charlie whoever you are."

Charlotte scowled at that, more because it seemed like what Will's brother would do. Sister would do. Whatever Jack thought she was. She was going to have to leave half of this out when she told Elizabeth. And add in more of a fight with that Anamaria. Elizabeth would expect a clash of swords. The thought cheered up Charlotte a little: she'd expected to have done a lot more fighting by now. Maybe this thing would end with a simple exchange of hostage and they'd all sail home happily.

And then she'd still have Eos to deal with.

A bit of her hair came loose with the wind and whipped at her face.

Charlotte glanced back at the ship. Everyone else was preoccupied with work and calling directions. Jack was on his way back to the wheel. No one saw or cared what she was doing. Then again, there would be no dashing Norrington to swoop in and save her when she messed this up.

The girl wrapped on arm around the rail beside her, raised the other to hold tightly to her new, stolen hat, and looked down.

She didn't close her eyes this time. She watched the dark waters grow lighter until she was looking at shallows and sand. There was a tint of red from the setting sun, just like before. A cicada, about one inch long, zipped past her face and she followed its trail toward an island. It landed on the shoulder of a woman with black skin and hair pulled back into a bun of dozens of coiled braids. She stood on the edge of the island, about ten feet away, staring at the sunset. Her dress was the same color as the red sun.

"Good… evening." Charlotte said.

The woman didn't seem to hear her. Or see her.

But this was Eos. Charlotte knew, sure as anything, that this woman was Eos and that Eos knew Charlotte was watching.

The cicada fluttered its wings and then the cloaked man she'd seen in Tortuga was there in its place. She still couldn't see his face but his voice was stronger as he spoke.

"I didn't find her."

Eos nodded. She reached up and touched his face reassuringly as he continued.

"But I found your 'help'." He said the word like a title… or like an inside joke.

Eos smiled. "I know. " She looked up at the sunset again. "Now we see if 'help' comes."

Charlotte found herself back on _the Interceptor_ a moment later, Will beside her saying something about Jack and sea turtles.

The dizziness was gone.

The pull was gone.

...

Author's note:

hi! thanks for reading! I just want to make a comment in case others notice something i noticed writing this: because i only have two ocs and one is pov, eos was the first character i gave any sort of description to. so I will be trying to go back and add some more descriptions of the canon characters Charlotte meets because having only one seems weird and jarring and possibly some other things. unless people tell me its fine i guess but iiii kinda think it isn't. But i sleep now.

JanuaryLily and I have a contest going until Christmas to see who can publish more so you should check out her fics. I highly suggest Love and War. Just hit a quite juicy chapter on that one. Go show her some love or whatever. You know what I mean. I ate seven chocolatins and wrote a chapter update so I don't have remember what words mean what any more.

thanks for the warm reception this story has had so far! You're all gorgeous. Have a nice day.


	10. Chapter 9

"Let go of the anchor!"

Whatever Will had been saying trailed off and both he and Charlotte turned toward the voice, then back to study the island that was their destination. Had it appeared from nowhere? Or had she just been busy hallucinating? Charlotte leaned over the rail one last time and studied the water. It was a bit calmer than it had been out in the open sea. Too many clouds to see any hint of the sun. No effect on her mind..

Just in time.

"Mr. Turner and I are to go to shore." Sparrow's eyes went to her, then squinted to study the way she was practically tumbling over the rail. She looked innocently back at him. "You with us, serrah?"

She glanced at Will. "Yes. What is the plan?"

"Go to shore," Jack replied patiently.

"And then the undead pirates will bow politely and Will will duel their captain and win and he will graciously hand over my sister?" Charlotte paused to pull herself back onto the ship, standing as tall as she could and making it up to Jack's nose. "And then we'll sail back and I'll be welcomed with open arms by my one true love and you'll be declared king of England."

"I do like that plan better."

"What is the actual plan, Captain?"

He perked up at his title. Charlotte had to hide the first flash of triumph she'd had in a while.

"Sneak in. See what they're up to. Sneak out with Miss Swann." Jack smiled benevolently. "Mr. _Turner_."

Oh, that was how it was? For the sake of the nonexistent Charles Turner, Charlotte decided to never call Jack 'Captain' again.

Will spoke up after a moment or two of awkward silence.

"Shall we go?"

"Right!" Jack swept off to the boat, the other two in tow. "We're off. Stick to the code."

Gibbs stuck his head over the ship's wheel to call back. "Aye, the code!"

Charlotte found herself in another boat a few minutes later with her eyes squeezed shut for the good old reason: fear. If she'd felt like this ten years ago, she would have pretended to faint. She was very afraid old instincts would kick in soon and she didn't think faking death would work on undead pirates.

A few calming breaths allowed her to peek one eye open, to look out from their tiny, fragile, onlygoodforbreathingunderwaternotforactualtravelwhowasjackkidding rowboat and see the _Endeavor_ and its crew watching from a distance.

Her eyes skated past the darkening sky and the grim faces of Jack and Will and found the shoreline. It swelled out of water in the form of rocks and a cave. It was quite foreboding. Practically an illustration out of one of her least favorite books. Charlotte wrapped her fingers around the edge of the boat and she closed her eyes again. Almost ten years ago she'd stepped off a boat into Port Royale and she'd spent the years darting around collecting gossip and shopping and convincing soldiers to teach her to dance and convincing Will to teach her swordplay because it seemed like dancing and becoming too self-conscious to talk to the one soldier who'd always been the kindest. And now she glided forward toward a pirate cave wearing pants and a stolen gun and a stolen hat. She couldn't honestly remember if she'd stolen the sword, but she thought she might have.

She hoped Elizabeth got the chance to know how much her sister loved her.

The tiny, ridiculously tiny, so tiny boat sailed into the cave and into torchlight. They moved forward slowly with a splash of oars every now and again, things appearing out of the darkness piece by piece as though they were sailing through a fog. Charlotte glanced behind her to see how Will was taking things. She looked away from his serious face to find a skeleton.

Then again, the two men probably had things handled on their own.

"What code is Gibb's to keep to?" Will asked. His eyes were on the skeleton too.

"Pirate's Code. Any man that falls behind, is left behind."

"What if the man falls behind is the one carrying all the treasure."

Jack paused his rowing for a moment to turn and glare at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You were being dramatic."

"The man carrying the treasure..." Jack turned back to rowing. "...is usually all of the men. And if not? It's easier to grab a bit of gold then a man what tripped."

Will and Charlotte shared a look. "No heroes amongst thieves, eh?" Will put in.

"You know, for having such a bleak outlook on pirates you're well on your way to becoming one. Sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the Fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga and you're completely obsessed with treasure. And your lil' sister-" Will looked sharply at Charlotte. She just rolled her eyes. "-along for the ride and willing to stab anyone who might cross her right between the shoulder blades for some shiny little trinket."

"Rude," Charlotte said primly.

"I am not obsessed with treasure." Will snapped.

A few moments later they caught sight of a dozen other boats the same size and Charlotte swallowed back a question of how many pirates would fit in each one. They slipped between the other boats and hit the shore and Charlotte leapt out so quickly that she had to take a few padding steps into the cave before she lost momentum.

"Well, one of you is chasing the goddess of lost things." Jack clambered out of the boat and strode past Charlotte before she could respond. "And..."

They slipped up a twist of the cave, finding a window over the main cavern. Charlotte didn't like how well Jack seemed to know what to expect. They had a perfect view of far too many pirates and one familiar looking pirate captain and piles of more gold than had any right to exist in one place and...

"And as for you, Will Turner: not all treasure is silver and gold, mate."

And Elizabeth.

Charlotte drew her sword to charge back down and find a way around but neither of the men was moving. They stared transfixed and she realized they were watching some sort of ceremony.

"Gentlemen," The captain called.

Charlotte remembered that voice. Her hands started shaking.

"The time has come! Our salvation is nigh! Our torment is near at end."

Charlotte's sister shuddered, alone and so far away. The dress she wore looked freezing. Charlotte wanted to scream.

"Elizabeth." Will began to lunge forward. Charlotte watched long enough to see Sparrow stop him.

Then she was winding back down to where they'd come, to the intersection they'd ignored.

"Goddess of lost things," Charlotte whispered as she headed into a larger tunnel, one that had hints of footprints and one or two gold coins that had been kicked or trailed from the main room. There was a stream beside her, a little too narrow for the boats to continue down. A breeze hit the water and trailed to Charlotte, sending a bite of chill down her spine. "Mind lending a hand then, Eos?"

Torchlight flickered. Charlotte found herself at the end of the tunnel, looking at the back of dozens of pirates and up at a very dramatic captain who would see her if she took one more step. The stream beside her led off to the side and somewhere behind him, but before that, there was so much open space. Light was glittering off the piles and piles of gold between her and the next bit of cover, between her and her sister. She couldn't walk that way but there was no way she swam well enough to hide under the...

Torchlight flickered again.

Charlotte glanced up to see one torch, flame drifting sideways with a breeze.

It went out.

A few piles of gold went dark, the area at the mouth of the cave darkening just like the tunnels they'd arrived in.

Charlotte clapped her free hand over her mouth; that was not supposed to work. That was not supposed to work. Why did that work?

A breeze at her back, urging her forward did not help matters at all.

She had to go.

She had to go _now_.

Instead, Charlotte took a few deep breaths, taking just enough time to make sure she wasn't going to vomit from terror, just enough time for Will to appear beside her and for Elizabeth to gasp with pain somewhere across the room.

Her sister needed her.

She couldn't wait any longer.

Charlotte raised her sword, lowered to a crouch, and she and Will crept silently into the room filled with cheering pirates.


	11. Chapter 10

Charlotte crept like a cat, refusing to look anywhere but the path in front of her. If she tripped, if she stubbed her toe... she was not going to be the reason her sister stayed trapped in this tomb of gold. She was not returning to face her father as his only daughter.

BANG.

Charlotte let out a little gasp and Will stumbled as the gunshot blasted back and forth through the echoing cave. A stone bumped by Will's foot splashed into the water but their eyes were too busy searching Elizabeth's red dress for a sign of blood to even realize that the gun wasn't pointed at her, much less note whether or not a pirate had noticed them.

"He shot me," A pirate whined.

He did not seem concerned.

The pirates' around him began to settle from the shock. Charlotte tapped Will's arm and they moved forward, finally slipping behind the captain's hill and out of sight. Charlotte leaned against it and found herself slipping to the ground with her hands pressed over her mouth, trying not to hyperventilate. She had a sword. She had a pistol. Apparently, they were useless.

"You, maid!" Charlotte looked up in panic. But no, of course, the captain wasn't talking to her. "Your father, what was his name?"

There was a pause. Charlotte stood and waved a hand until Will looked at her. "Climb?" She mouthed.

He touched his sword, considering the slope of the hill. Yet again, a gravelly voice interrupted their plan.

"Was your father William Turner?"

Charlotte's eyebrows shot up. Will met her look with a shrug.

Fine.

Stay focused.

Except where was that filthy pirate who'd brought Will here?

"Where's his child? The child that sailed from England eight years ago, the child in whose veins flows the blood of William Turner. Where?"

William began to stand, opening his mouth to say who-knew-what. Charlotte reached out and yanked on his arm. "They'll just take you, too." He pulled. "If she wanted you caught, she would be tal-"

Elizabeth flew over the edge of the hill above them, tumbling stunned down the slope.

"Um," Charlotte said.

"Oh," Will said.

And Elizabeth bowled into them.

Will managed to half catch her, collapsing to kneel with Elizabeth half in his arms. Charlotte was knocked back, hitting her face on a sharp bit of rock, and barely caught herself from rolling into the water. She stared into the dark river for a moment, weirdly proud that she was starting to break the habit of needing rescue from falling, and then her eyes caught on another flash of gold.

She hesitated for a moment, imagining her own face a skeleton as her fingers brushed the medallion that had landed by her side. The skull grinned back, reading her mind, but nothing happened as she wound the chain around her wrist. She shoved herself back onto her feet and moved in on her sister and the only one of them to actually be a Turner.

"Where's Jack?" She hissed at Will. Elizabeth rose awkwardly to her feet. "Are you alright?" Charlotte asked, instantly distracted. Elizabeth nodded. "Will, Jack knows who you are. Where is he?"

"Fell behind."

Will looked a little guilty. Charlotte's shoulders slumped with relief.

They crept back the way they had come, still in shadow. The medallion was cold where she'd tucked it in her sleeve and when she rotated her wrist as though waving a sword, the chain bit into her skin. They arrived back at the boats and Will began preparing theirs, snatching up ropes. Elizabeth studied the other boats for a moment, looking for a way to cripple them, and then began awkwardly tossing oars into the boat Will had chosen. Charlotte watched Elizabeth stumble over her dress once and then began tossing the oars to her sister, letting Elizabeth stay by Will's side.

"Ready," Will said. He settled down with the oars and Charlotte grabbed a seat beside her sister, wrapping her arms around Elizabeth the way Elizabeth usually did to her. Elizabeth smelled awful. Her skin was freezing. Charlotte held her tighter.

"I'm alright." Elizabeth patted Charlotte's hand and managed a laugh just as a cry started behind them. The pirates knew she was gone. "Really."

"Of course you are. I, however, am miserable." Charlotte let go of her sister to kick a few of the oars off the boat. They floated uselessly away into the small bay. "I'm wearing trousers, Elizabeth."

Will smiled then returned to looking grimly over his shoulder at their ship.

"Just don't let Father see," Elizabeth teased.

"He might already know. Quite a few soldiers saw me. I don't think anyone but the Commodore recognized me." Charlotte unwound the chain and medallion from her wrist and pulled her braid from beneath her collar, meaning to stash the gold around her neck. The braid came loose, almost instantly releasing all of her hair to blanket her face. Elizabeth leaned forward with a frown and Charlotte didn't resist when her sister carefully took the medallion and studied it for a moment. "Do you think he told?"

Elizabeth finished hiding the medallion around her own neck and then leaned over, wrapping her arm through Charlotte's. Charlotte didn't move, just accepted the mess of hair on her face and the comforting weight of her sister. "You did it to rescue me. How could any of them think badly of you?"

"Well, we're about to board the _Interceptor_ which I stole and gave to pirates."

"All by herself," Will added.

Charlotte frowned as she finally parted the hair from her face. "It is hard to take the blame without stealing the glory... " She reached out as they bumped into the ship, her hands seizing the rope ladder. "But yes, all by myself."

"You're worse than the pirates," Will muttered just loud enough for her to here.

Charlotte shook her head distractedly, then darted up the ladder to give Elizabeth a moment of alone time with Will before they were surrounded by people again. She instantly regretted it as she found herself alone with them instead.

Several of them raised an eyebrow. Two of them exchanged gold. Charlotte touched the loose curls and then the hat that she'd forgotten to lower to its proper shadowy spot over her forehead. Then she drew her sword.

"What are you waiting for? We're here. That means the enemy's coming too." Will and Elizabeth arrived behind her and Charlotte began to panic as the pirates found a new diversion. Her eyes found the quarter deck and she moved toward it. "Anamaria?"

"Ay," Anamaria studied Charlotte's straighter posture from the wheel of the ship. "No Jack?"

"No, captain."

"Weigh anchor! Hoist the sails." Anamaria swung the wheel, the ship following as sails began to catch the wind. Charlotte arrived at her side and tried desperately to find something to help with. "Does this mean I can have my hat back?"

Charlotte flinched. "Oh, I..."

"That's alright." Anamaria rolled her eyes. "I'll just wait for Jack to turn up again and he'll get me a new one."

"A better one?" Charlotte joked weakly.

"Of course." Anamaria glanced behind and the younger woman copied the movement. The island was disappearing and no pirates had appeared. Anamaria turned back and barked a few orders as Charlotte continued to stare.

It was the middle of the day, wasn't it?

So why was the ocean so dark right now?

And something smelled foul, fouler then any pirate she'd met. And something was burning, choking her lungs like in the blacksmith shop. What could possibly be on fire?

"You know, you can put that sword away now," Anamaria said brusquely.

Charlotte snapped out of her thoughts and found the day clear again.

"Oh. Right."

Good; now Anamaria could think even less of her.

Charlotte slid the sword into its sheath and then hesitated, staring at the glitter of metal and the sun bleached wood beneath it. She took a deep breath and sure enough, when she looked up, the clouds of smoke were back. She turned starboard and found the cloud growing thicker and thicker.

"What's that direction?"

"West." Anamaria said dryly.

"No, I'm sorry: what's in that direction?"

Anamaria squinted past her. "You mean that island? Some dead volcano probably."

Ah.

"Thank you," Charlotte moved to the side of the ship, several pirates having to dodge around her. Could she remember this place? Would it matter if she didn't? There was no way she was going to remember this.

The wind tugged at her loose hair.

"I can't." Charlotte looked back and, sure enough, a ship had appeared on the horizon. "I'm not losing her again. Or Will. Or the rest of them. And I can't sail by myself."

The wind slowed.

"I'm sorry. We need to escape first. Find a safe harbor." That seemed unlikely. "Or the navy."

Oh... Oh, what if the wind in their sails stopped, too?

But it didn't.

Instead, a wave crashed against the hull below her. Then another. A third, hard enough that she stumbled backwards and there was a lull in activity as several pirates muttered about sea monsters before Anamaria reminded them about the actual monsters and Elizabeth and Will appeared to discuss them. They began planning, discussing the ship. Charlotte ignored them.

Charlotte looked down.

The world disappeared.

And then she was in a small room staring at a map of the British harbors and naval routes.

Oh.

She leaned forward, not sure how much time she had and someone beside her moved as well. She wasn't alone. There was a uniformed man beside her and he... this wasn't just a vision, because he had noticed her...

Oh.

 _Oh._

 _Oh, no._

...

James Norrington stood at a sunlit desk in his ship's cabin, a plate of food set beside him and forgotten as he poured over a map of the Carribean. Captain Swann was out pacing the deck and the men were darting around him to keep the ship moving. It was up to Norrington to decide where to go. Where to possibly find Swann's daughters.

What had Charlotte been thinking? Sailing away with the same grim face she'd used when someone stepped on her toes while dancing and she didn't want to be rude. Had he missed some hint the night before, when she came home injured and dazed?

Of course, he had. She'd instantly offered to help. She'd had a _sword_.

But still, it was Charlotte.

And then, he glanced to the side and _there was Charlotte._

She was studying the map and the marks he'd made. She looked up when he jumped and she had drying blood and a gash on her cheek. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder, tumbling down from a misshapen hat and glittering in the sun as it streamed through the cabin's windows.

He opened his mouth to ask if she was a ghost.

Instead, he said calmly, "Miss Swann, are you alright?"

Her face twisted into a sad, affectionate smile. "Yes, Commodore. How do you fare?"

"Well."

The grim face returned. "And my father?"

"He is anxious but well." He reached out a comforting hand and it went right through her. "What about your sister?"

"With me." She pointed to an area near Tortuga and the hat shadowed her face for a moment. Then she looked back at him and the shadows were gone. "I think... I'm not sure... The pirates are behind us. I don't know what to do."

"We'll come. We'll find you."

"How will you explain?" She wasn't teasing.

"I'll find a way. You can count on me, Miss Swann."

"I know."

She took another look at the map.

She was gone.


	12. Chapter 11

Charlotte came to just as Elizabeth's hands seized her arm.

"What's happening?"

Charlotte had no idea. Thankfully, Anamaria barked back.

"The Black Pearl, she's gaining on us."

Elizabeth's hair flew as she looked around for answers, "This is the fastest ship in the Caribbean."

"You can tell them that after they've caught us."

"We're shallow on the draft, right?"

Charlotte stepped away from her sister and began warming up, sword out as she tried to remember what Will had once shown her.

"Aye."

"Well, then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?"

This meant nothing to Charlotte. Everyone else looked impressed.

Gibbs appeared at their side. "We don't have to outrun them long, just long enough."

Anamaria considered the three of them for an eternity. Then she turned away and her voice rang out for all the men to hear. "Lighten the ship, stem to stern!"

"Anything that we can afford to lose? See that it's lost." Gibbs began moving among them, pointing out things the pirates had missed.

Charlotte watched for a moment and then moved to the back of the boat, now loading her pistol. She had a feeling that Eos had sent her to Norrington as a bribe, a very good bribe, but she couldn't leave now. Or was this happening because she wasn't leaving? Could Eos give the pirates wind and not them?

Charlotte studied the sails of both ships.

Then she noted that it did not seem to matter.

"Oars! They're letting down oars!"

Anamaria gave her a look of dread, then looked to the others. "It was a good idea. Until now."

More orders were yelled and Charlotte realized she should be helping. She began dashing around with the pirates, hand the men at the cannons anything she could find. If the pirates couldn't be hurt, she thought as she ran, could their ship be broken? She shook the thought off: it was unlikely that the ship had stolen Aztec gold as well.

It was all so pointless.

"Lower the anchor on the right side. On the starboard side!"

Charlotte looked up at her sister's voice and found the pirate's ship almost on them, ready to destroy them. Elizabeth looked so, confidant. Ready to fight 'til the end.

The anchor suddenly slammed down and Charlotte was thrown onto the deck. She scrambled to look up and immediately had to curl up, hands over her ears, as the cannons began to fire around her. She felt the ship shudder where her knees met the wooden planks.

"Charlotte!" Anamaria's hand yanked Charlotte's elbow just before the mast could crush her against the deck. Charlotte didn't have time to thank her before she found pirates swinging toward her, jumping from ropes onto the dying _Interceptor_.

She was going to die, wasn't she?

A pirate noticed her standing there, gaping, and leaped toward her. Without thinking, the young woman whipped out her sword again and blocked his swing. Her body was following a dance, parry, parry, pointless attack. All memory. Her mind was trying to figure out how to escape an opponent who would happily fight on until her arm fell off from overuse.

A laugh bubble madly in the back of her mind: she could jump ship, finally land in the water.

The logical part of her let the laugh slip and then she took a slight step to the side.

The pirate now stood between her and the water.

Charlotte ducked his next swing, moving so fast she wasn't sure her heart came with her. As the air whistled above she reached forward-a hurried shove...

"Get away from me!"

The pirate cursed at her as he tumbled over the rail.

"Charlotte!" Charlotte whirled to find Elizabeth this time. "Charlotte!"

Two pirates were dragging her sister from the ship. Too far away to reach. The sword was quickly sheathed and Charlotte's pistol raised, her face twisting with fury.

"No! Help Will!" Elizabeth's head jerked toward the fallen mast. "Charlotte, please!"

Charlotte fired the pistol and one of the pirates holding Elizabeth lost his grip as a bullet blasted through his shoulder. A moment later he had hold of her again but Charlotte had already disappeared behind the mast, creeping away from anyone else who might try to fetch her. As she moved she noted that there was no one left, everyone was on the _Black Pearl_ and the _Interceptor_ was slowly moving lower and lower beside it.

"Will?" She hissed. She reached the hatch to below deck. She found only water.

Charlotte looked up to find that the Black Pearl was moving away... Indecision dug its claws in. Should she grab a rowboat and go to Eos? Try to stowaway on the _Pearl_? Go below deck and try to break into the flooded cabin to free Will? Was that even possible?

Charlotte looked around helplessly and then simply drew her pistol. If she could smash the hatch, would there be enough room for Will to squeeze out? She began reloading, starting to feel sick. Was it too late? Had he already drowned? Drowning seemed like an awful-

The ship exploded.

For a moment she was far, far to hot. For a moment her coat was on fire and she was flying through the air.

Then the ocean was cold. Biting. Everywhere.

 _.._

 _It had been a cold, cold night the last time Charlotte had 'fainted'._

..

Her mind couldn't seem to focus suddenly. Drifting back and forth. Burning lungs and then aching heart.

Why had she pretended to faint two years ago? She couldn't... quite...

Her eyes opened and she couldn't see.

She'd been... sixteen... And it had been a dance. It was suddenly very important that she remember this dance. If she was dying, she wanted to remember this...

It had been so cold.

 _.._

 _Charlotte wanted to be alone. Her father had agreed to let her step out for a moment of fresh air after she'd collapsed into a chair. She didn't think he realized that it had started to rain. And now he was likely keeping a sharp eye on the men dancing with Elizabeth. He wouldn't notice for a few minutes that she hadn't come back._

 _Careful to stay under the lip of the balcony above her, Charlotte wiped a finger under each eye and thankfully found no tears. She felt stupid. There was the word: stupid. Or maybe awkward. How did everyone else enjoy all that chatter? Her mind was blank or else caught on silly things only her sister would enjoy hearing. Elizabeth and the officers she knew had all laughed when Charlotte said something clever but then her mind became frantic, straining to find something to keep the conversation flowing and then she was lost._

 _And now they were finally dancing, something she didn't have to think about, and instead she was outside desperately trying to pin up her hair and work up the courage to talk to someone long enough to get them to dance with her._

 _"Miss Swann?"_

 _"Oh!" She tensed and turned to find an apologetic James Norrington. "Good evening, sir."_

 _He stepped out and immediately began shivering. "I brought your shawl." He looked out into the rain as she thanked him and threw it over her shoulders. "It seems you were wise to bring it. My coat, sadly, is warming a hook in the barracks."_

 _Charlotte was trying to fix a small catch in her shawl. "Did you come to make sure I hadn't fainted again?"_

 _Norrington laughed._

 _Charlotte found her cheeks turning pink and she gave him a sidelong look. "No?"_

 _"Miss Swann," He looked embarrassed. "I've seen you faint. Truly faint. As convincing as your act was in there, it was..." He considered. "Not... I shouldn't help you become more convincing, should I?"_

 _"I suppose not. So you knew I ran away." The words slipped out._

 _"I'm sure you have your reasons." He said kindly. Charlotte sighed. "I can't say I'm not happy to have a moment of quiet."_

 _The rain pattered for a long moment. She should say something. What could she say? What was there to talk about?_

 _.._

Charlotte was so cold. She was dying. She started struggling for the surface but couldn't seem to find up.

 _.._

 _Her hand reached out, a last moment of confidence. "When you're ready to return, care to join me for a dance, sir?"_

 _He turned and smiled. Her heart skipped a beat._

 _Oh, no._

 _"I would be honored, Miss Swann."_

..

Charlotte wanted to remember that dance. She had it for a brief second... _Her eyes meeting his and flinching away, the words growing more difficult, her hands growing more clammy, enjoying that dance more than any since._ Then she lost it.

Her relaxed body began to drift with the current, floating up to join the shipwreck.

She was so tired.

Her head hit wood and her numb fingers found an edge. She yanked herself up, sluggish.

She didn't know if the pirates were still there. She didn't care.

The exhausted young woman wrapped one arm around a plank of wood and the world slipped away into darkness.


	13. Chapter 12

The _Black Pearl_ drifted away from the sinking ship as Elizabeth was shoved against the mast. Useless ropes wrapped around her and her ally pirates but the cursed pirates were too near, she had to trust her sister to save Will.

The pirates turned away.

Charlotte or no Charlotte, Elizabeth wasn't going to miss a chance to run.

The younger Swann ducked under the ropes, ignoring the shouts of surprise, dashing toward the rail and readying herself for the shock of hitting the water. She made it about three steps.

Then the _Interceptor_ blasted apart.

Will...

Charlotte... She'd left Charlotte. She'd told Charlotte... But maybe she'd jumped in time.

Will had been inside.

No!

Elizabeth turned, searching for someone to blame. Her eyes found Barbossa, calm and pompous.

She screamed and threw herself at him.

...

Will, hanging onto the side of the enemy ship with the medallion tight in his fist, heard Elizabeth's scream and found the energy he'd been searching for. His body was shaking from his swim through the splinters of the ship that had held him captive. He'd been watching the ship burn and wondering what would have happened if he hadn't been under the water... Now he surged up the ship ready to kill everyone on board.

"Barbossa!" He roared.

He was looking for Elizabeth. He found her gripped by a dozen pirates and he raised the pistol at their captain as she gasped his name.

"She goes free."

Barbossa leered at Will's order. "What's in your head, boy?"

"She goes free!" Will glanced around for Charlotte, hoping to find her still disguised as a boy, hoping she was ready to help. "Now!"

It wasn't working.

"You've only got one shot, boy, and we can't die." The pirate mocked.

Will considered.

Jack Sparrow's voice interrupted his thoughts, "Don't do anything stupid."

Will glared at him. He glared at the pirates holding Elizabeth. He glared at Barbossa.

"You can't." He raised the gun to his own head. "I can."

Jack winced. Will didn't care.

The pirates were curious now but still more annoyed than concerned. Elizabeth was staring at him. He'd failed the first rescue. He'd failed to keep her sister safe-that thought was creeping in and making him sick the longer he failed to find Charlotte.

He was not going to fail Elizabeth now.

"My name is Will Turner. My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins." He paused to let this sink in. Barbossa didn't react. His men began to look unsettled. "On my word, do as I say or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' locker!"

The longest pause of his life.

Then.

"Name your terms, Mr. Turner."

The negotiations began.

There was still no sign of Charlotte.

...

Commodore Norrington ran a finger along the cannon next to him, doing his best not to seem surprised that no one was looking at him as though he was losing his mind. They'd all taken his change of course as a logical step-they were headed for an area known for piracy, after all. He hadn't been foolish enough to tell them that he'd made the decision based on a hallucination, after all.

Norrington continued walking down the rows of cannons, the air below deck a bit stiff but better than straining his eyes above for any hope that he hadn't made the wrong decision. His mind kept telling him that he could trust Charlotte Swann and then remembering that there was no sane reason to believe he'd talked to the real Miss Swann.

"Commodore? Commodore." Governor Swann appeared, bustling about and well-meaning as always. "They've spotted a shipwreck."

"Excellent." It was not excellent. It likely meant they were too late. He made his way above and gave the few orders needed to send the ship toward the wreckage-his men had simply been waiting for the official permission.

Governor Swann joined Norrington on the quarterdeck. He had apparently not fallen for the commodore's optimism. "I can't understand why Charlotte would want to... She never had any desire to sail. And you think she would want to come out here?"

Everyone else seemed to think Charlotte had gone insane. Prim and proper, ladylike little girl Charlotte. He had tried to be surprised by it. Instead, he kept remembering that sword in her confident hand. Remembering Miss Swann shoving her sister away from Jack Sparrow and then rescuing herself while the guard-while _Norrington_ stood furiously helpless.

"Commodore?"

"I don't think your daughter was worried about what she wanted," Norrington replied easily. "I do wish she had trusted us to take care of it." Because that was going splendidly, wasn't it? And she'd said-the hallucination had said that Charlotte had found Elizabeth. She'd succeeded. "I am sure-"

"Sir! There's someone in the water."

Norrington refused to look at Swann as he accepted the telescope and scanned the wreckage. Sure enough, there was one still figure draped in the middle of the smoldering ship. He hoped for a moment, seeing a man's hat and jacket but the ship moved closer to reveal long, wet, dark hair clinging to the figure's back.

Charlotte.

She wasn't moving.

There was something inevitable about that.

The British ship approached the wreckage and Norrington handed the telescope back, marching wordlessly to the bow of the ship. The waves rocked the wreckage and his body jerked instinctively forward, but Charlotte stayed above the water. Commodore Norrington began barking orders, fighting impatience as his men threw down ropes and one ran to fetch the doctor. A few moments later, Miss Swann was being lowered into a soaking mess on the deck. There were burn marks on her clothing-the same clothing he'd seen her wearing in his office. He looked for the injury he'd see and found it healing beside a few new cuts and bruises. There was worse blood on her arms where she'd thrown them in front of her face as a shield. The red was the only color he could find-she was as pale as a corpse.

Was she...?

One of the sailors called that the doctor was gathering his things and on his way.

"Tell him to gather faster!" Governor Swann blustered.

Norrington took a deep breath and realized he had hold of Swann's elbow, instinctively stopping the man from throwing himself at his daughter. Or was Norrington steadying himself? He couldn't seem to look away.

"Sir? Shall we search the rest of the wreckage?"

He had to look at the sailor for several seconds before he understood. "Yes. Bring anyone you find on board as well." Any bodies, he meant.

The men around Charlotte began to move away. Governor Swann moved jerkily forward and fell to his knees beside his daughter. He seemed unsure whether he should touch her and Norrington finally moved closer, kneeling beside her as well and gently touching her neck.

"Is she...?" Swann choked.

Norrington closed his eyes. She was so cold. He could hear the doctor finally approaching but he ignored it, pushing his fears away.

He should have guessed she would try to rescue her sister.

He should have stopped her.

He should have been someone better, someone she could have trusted to take care of this mess.

"Commodore?" The doctor prodded. He wanted them to move.

Norrington shifted his hand, pressing a little harder, one last try to find her pulse.

There!

Norrington's eyes shot open. "She's alive."

Swann gasped in relief and the doctor nodded. "We should get her somewhere warm then."

"Your room, governor?" Norrington waited for the father to nod and then began arranging Charlotte's arms in what he hoped would be the least painful for her. The other two men moved away, hurrying to prepare the room as Norrington gathered the freezing bundle that was Charlotte into his arms.

She was starting to shiver. Surely that was a good sign?

With a burst of effort, the Commodore stood. He took a moment to make sure he was steady, that there was no chance of dropping her. As his eyes skated past her face again, he saw her eyes beginning to flutter.

"Miss Swann? We're getting you to a doctor." Her face screwed up in pain. "You'll be warm and in bed in one moment, Miss Swann. I am... sorry for the discomfort."

Her voice was small as she replied.

"James?"

"Yes, Miss Swann."

"I lost Elizabeth. They took her."

He considered, beginning to walk her toward the doctor. Her hand reached up to steady itself against his chest and he paused for a moment. He tried to keep his voice casual as he continued walking, hoping she wouldn't notice, not sure why it mattered.

"You've gotten us closer to her, Miss Swann. And you're safe now. That's what's important."

He turned to walk through the door her father was holding open and a glance down showed her face becoming more lucid.

"Commodore?" She sounded surprised. She looked around and winced. "Father."

"Charlotte."

Norrington set her on the bed, gently removing her hand from his chest and smiling politely at the apologetic look on her face-she must have forgotten he was there. He wanted to ask her about the vision, see if she remembered it, ask how she had done it but he was half sure she would simply call him insane and deny it... he could at least wait until no one else was listening, he supposed. Norrington stepped away from her and let the doctor move in to begin looking at the young woman's arms.

What had she gone through in the last few days?

..

Charlotte spent the next ten minutes being interrogated by her father and having nothing helpful to say. The island the pirates were headed? Impossible to find. Why had they wanted Elizabeth? Insanity. How had they found the island? She wasn't really sure. Magic. Insanity. She could feel the commodore's eyes are her, probably thinking that she was lying. If she could find him and talk to him, why couldn't she find Elizabeth?

She wondered that too.

Finally, the sun was setting and Norrington and the doctor shooed her father away with the insistence that she would need sleep. Her father acquiesced but insisted on giving her a very careful hug and one last scold.

"Stay here and rest, dear. You gave us quite a scare."

"I'm sorry, father."

Her father walked out, presumably going to find another place to sleep-probably Norrington's rooms. Likely everyone on board was being bumped down a bed and somebody was going to have to sleep on the floor. Charlotte sighed and watched as the doctor followed her father out.

James Norrington hesitated in the doorway.

"If you need anything, Miss Swan, I or one of my men will be just outside."

She looked down at the bandages wrapped around her arms, then brushed her mess of hair back. What a disaster he must think of her. She looked up, ready to see disgust. He looked concerned, of course. Always kind.

"Do you need anything?" He repeated.

"I... " She leaned forward and found the sky darkening but no one else around. "Be careful if you find them, Commodore. There are... strange things out here." She gathered her courage. "Things that won't die."

He didn't believe her. She could tell. But he didn't seem to think she was crazy.

"Thank you, Miss Swann." He said finally. "I will keep that in mind."

They both frowned: words were apparently inadequate to sum up the nightmare she had seen, that she was trying to warn him about, or the strangeness he'd experienced in seeing her when she was miles and miles away.

"Good night, Miss Swann."

He closed the door behind him before she could gather her thoughts to respond.

Charlotte sighed and turned to blow out a candle. She made a few attempts to braid her hair before giving up on her aching fingers. Stiffly, she lay down on the bed without bothering to take off her boots or coat, curling the blanket around her entire body instead of tucking herself in. Every part of her hurt-the sword was digging into her hip, too precious to remove while there were men around to take it-but she was perfectly ready to pass out again.

Tomorrow, she decided. Tomorrow she would have the energy to sneak off in a rowboat and find out just what exactly this Eos wanted from her.

And what Eos could offer in return.


	14. Chapter 13

Charlotte woke in darkness, too startled to move. A few moments and she remembered where she was and that she was mostly safe. She was warm and comfortable and her arms were stiff but much less painful then they had been a few hours ago.

The young woman sat up as quietly as she could and began struggling with her hair-three attempts at a braid proved too much movement on her burned skin.

It crossed her mind that she could much more easily chop it off… then she shuddered and bound her hair up on top of her hair instead, lighting a candle in order to cut a makeshift ribbon from one of her father's least favorite coats.

She searched the room and found that someone had brought in a uniform for her. She tossed the coat onto the bed but exchanged her ragged trousers for the dark pants. Had they really come looking for two of the governor's daughters without bringing any women's clothing? she wondered irritably. What she wouldn't give for one of her more practical hats.

Anamaria's hat was on her head, perched at the most flattering angle she could get. There was no help for her shirt or cloak, she supposed.

Charlotte stared at herself in a mirror and when her eyes reached her face she found disappointment. With a sharp yank, she ripped the ribbon out and let her hair tumble down behind her. A wind slipped through the cracks in the doors and window and a few strands drifted forward over her cheeks. Fine. A compromise. A few minutes later she hung out the window, her hair half up and half down and the ribbon the neatest bow she could make with the stained bandages still running up and down her arms.

There were plenty of decorations and nooks for her to catch hold of as she swung along the side of the ship. A few times her cloak caught as well and she had to grit her teeth and yank it free with as quiet a rip as possible. She couldn't hear anyone above but who knew who might be listening on the other side of the ship's hull.

It occurred to her too late that she might have had more luck sneaking around with the red coat if she'd meant to fetch food from below ship and then her stomach growled so loudly that gave up and leapt on to the deck of the ship. No one would care if she wanted food. She was being stupid. She was suddenly very hungry.

Her posture straightened and she put on a confident face, walking just out of the lantern light and down the steps midship. A soldier sat up straighter as she appeared and she simply tipped her chin further into the air and said, "Food?" and the soldier gave her specific directions. She returned with a hand filled with some dried meat and a bag of the same stuff in her belt. She had two canteens and a pouch of biscuits down her shirt as she smiled at him. Another canteen was in her hood and a little cloth-wrapped cheese was under her hat.

If she got caught, she would never live this down. She would go into exile. She would never stop running if something fell out from its hiding place. Oh, she was going to get caught.

Her heart beat faster and faster.

 _She was going to get caught._

Charlotte's thoughts began to race as she fought to keep her breath and face calm.

 _shewasgointogetcaughtshewasgoingtogetcaughtshewasgoingtogetcaught-_

Charlotte didn't get caught.

Back above ship, she moved confidently to one of the small rowboats normally used to reach shore and return in shallow water, not meant for traveling far. She placed her food carefully under one of the rowboat's plank benches and crouched on the deck beside it. She took a long sip of water as she looked around.

It was long after midnight with mist creeping up from the ocean and through the rails; she was pretty sure that it was too dark for the upper levels of the ship to look down and see her. There was no one at her door-likely it was locked-and a glance at the front of the ship found the only soldier there sitting strangely still. She narrowed her eyes-he was asleep.

With the help of a gust of wind, Charlotte lifted the boat and swung it over the side. She loosened her resistance on the rope to let it sink and was nearly ripped her off her feet as she misjudged the weight and help of the pulleys above her. There was an eternal moment of stubborn panic as she was pulled to her tiptoes.

Then a hand reached out and seized the rope just above her blistering hands, yanking the boat to a standstill.

She looked up at the grunt of effort and found the Commodore just above her. She had another moment, this one too short, to study his face before he looked down and frowned at her.

"Charlotte." He closed his eyes and she watched him try to be stern. He just looked tired. "Stay."

"If it helps," Charlotte tried to put her smile into her voice. "I'm not going after the pirates."

Norrington opened his eyes. "You think someone else-"

"No. When I… When I did whatever I did… When you saw me, _that_ was someone else. I'm going to ask them for help." Charlotte gritted her teeth and stepped back from James Norrington, each inch as much a struggled as tearing her cloak from the splinters of the ship. Eos would help, wouldn't she? Surely, now that Charlotte had lost twice as much. Elizabeth and Will…

"Then tell us where to go. Let us help you." Norrington said quietly.

Charlotte threw a leg over the rail. "You have your duty. As an officer. A sailor." She waved a hand at the ship. "To your men who will likely try to kill my… 'friend' if they see magic."

"Charlotte…"

She shook her head and frowned up at him, still hanging onto the rope. "Not everyone is as sensible as you, Commodore." She waited a moment. "You know I'm right. Please trust me."

"Charlotte… Miss Swann… I must… You have other options."

The wind curled around her, urging her to move, to go.

"I am the only who can do this." She held out a hand and caught the end of the rope, holding it firmly as she tugged it away from him.

"Be that as it may…" He resisted for a moment before letting it slip from his fingers. "You don't _need_ to… We'll find your sister and you can go home."

"And do what?" Charlotte twisted, throwing her remaining leg over the rail and stepping into the rowboat. "Sit and do nothing while they do all this again to another family?" She broke from his gaze and stared out at an invisible horizon. "While the man I care for marries my sister?" As soon as that courage had come it was gone and she couldn't dare look and see his reaction. "Goodbye, Commodore." She jumped into the boat and let the rope slip through her fingers.

"Charlotte!"

She looked up at the sound of her name to find a stunned-looking James Norrington. She just looked back sadly. Her boat hit the water with a jolt and she sliced through the ropes still binding her to the ship, still not sure he wouldn't try to stop her.

She looked up one last time to find him leaning precariously forward, indecision on his face for once instead of hers. Then she held out a hand, letting sea spray splash her fingers before holding them up to see which side would be cooled by the wind.

She needn't have bothered; the waves were already urging her where she needed to go.

And James Norrington and his ship had already disappeared into the night behind her.

She heard the faint call of her name echo across the sea one last time.

Then she was alone in the darkness.

...

Author's Note

thank you so, so much for beta-ing to januarylily. glad i finally got you back for all your wonderful romance angst torture over the years 3.

thank you also to the guest reviews, lysani g,diegovic, spiralheads, and everyone whos reviewed the previous 9 chapters. i really appreciate the feedback and one guest is the reason we got this chapter-iwas very torn on this at first lol

and of course, thank you all for reading!


	15. Chapter 14

Charlotte fell asleep curled in the bottom of the rowboat and woke up coughing.

She shot up and found the sky light above but clouds all around her, and a bright reddish light lighting the clouds up ahead. She reached back for the hood of her cloak and wrapped it around her mouth and nose, eyes squinting and beginning to water.

The light didn't seem to be getting any closer.

Charlotte placed a hand on either side of the boat, steadying herself as she rose to her knees. She peered carefully over into the water and found darkness a few inches down. Charlotte scrambled to the bow and found it beached in the black sand that swirled around below her. She reached down and trailed a hand through, finding it to be real and a bit warmer than she'd been expecting.

Charlotte took one look back into the mist.

Then she launched herself onto the island and began to march forward.

About ten minutes of walking and she found dark rocks and then she found a small river of fire, trailing off to the right and deeper into the island. The strange man had said follow the fire, hadn't he? So she would follow the lava.

Was this Eos' home? Should she be saying hello? Was she trespassing?

Charlotte began to snack on some of the dried meat she'd stolen and trying not to remember her departing conversation. Trying not to wish she'd gotten him to come with her. Or that Will or Elizabeth or even Jack were with her. Anyone.

Mostly James.

Charlotte stopped to brush her hands against each other, chasing away the feel of salt and oil from her skin and then reaching out to dry them in the heat of molten rock. The stream had widened and she thought she might be walking uphill. She had yet to see anything similar to her vision of Eos and her fortune telling friend. Charlotte frowned as she began walking again-what if this was someone she had to fight, not Eos? Had any of the visions told her what she was doing here?

Charlotte considered this for a moment and then pulled up short with a startled cry as she came an inch short of walking straight off a cliff.

She fought off hyperventilating and then her eyes swung toward the lava. How…?

The lava was flowing up the cliff.

Of course.

Of course, it was.

The mist was clear here, she noted. Down below she saw a white sand beach with crystal blue water and two figures seated near the water, looking away from her and sharing a bottle between them every few moments.

Charlotte squinted at the figures but the more she looked the fuzzier they became until they disappeared altogether. The beach began to fade as well.

She blinked and there was a fort there instead, the grey stones melting into mist where they met the ground below. The roof was about even with the cliff, about thirty feet further then she could jump. She heard murmuring voices and found a crowd gathered around the front of the fort. Her eyes followed, searching for someone she knew, then caught on the gallows that rose out of the mass of people. She could see soldiers carrying bodies around the corner of the fort, toward the ocean she could no longer get a good view of.

Panicked, Charlotte began to turn to follow them along the cliffside. She was interrupted by her father's voice in her ear, too quiet to discern any emotion.

"...not a commodore anymore…"

Another group was coming out of the gate. One prisoner among half a dozen soldiers. Too far away to be sure.

But she was sure.

What had she done?

Charlotte backed up and almost tripped over her own feet, the wind catching her just enough to stop a tumble back toward the river of fire.

"Stop!" Charlotte steadied herself on her feet and remembered her manners. "Please! Stop it!"

In an instant, the fort and the gallows and the crowd were gone and the entire world was mist.

Charlotte wrapped her arms around her chest, trying not to be sick. She couldn't see-she didn't want to see-she didn't know what she wanted. Her stomach was churning with terror.

The mist shimmered a little, a red light from the lava.

She heard the same voice she'd heard in that first vision, the voice that had said Eos and the voice that had told her to follow the fire. "Are you sure?"

Charlotte didn't answer. She wasn't sure enough what any of it meant.

There was a pause, the voice waiting and not receiving an answer.

"Is that happening now?" She said finally.

"No. Maybe it will never happen."

The voice paused again. Waited again.

Charlotte was shaking; "I don't want to see more."

A moment passed and then the world began to grow warm around her. The mist melted away and she found sunlight trickling in to replace it. She glanced around and found that the cliff was gone. In front of Charlotte now was a plain sand beach, a normal stream of water flowing toward the ocean, a small but proper boat sitting at the edge of the beach with its sails stowed as two distant figures walked across its deck. One of the figures waved at her to approach before returning to whatever they'd been doing.

Charlotte Swann stepped forward carefully, checking the ground before her with the toe of her boot before placing her full weight on it. Sure enough, the sand was real and she sank just an inch or two before it held her firmly.

The young woman considered this for a long moment, wondering what exactly had happened to get her from point A to point B. Had the island changed? Had it been a vision the whole time? Had she been teleported thousands of miles away?

The only thing she was sure of-more sure then she would have thought-was that this was definitely not a dream.

She did not like that thought.

It took about twenty minutes to make her way to the ship, shoving away all thoughts of the visions by singing songs she knew she didn't know the words to and replacing them with variations of the words 'I don't know this part' and singing anyway. She quieted when she thought she was close enough for the man and woman to hear her, but the slight siles on their faces said they'd been listening the whole time.

One of the figures was Eos, wearing a pale pink blouse and loose pants as she polished a looking glass. The man had finally taken the hood off and, from what Charlotte could tell, was a native to the islands. He had hair cropped around the length of his chin and he wore dark clothes that seemed to shimmer and throw away light so that she couldn't quite tell where he stood, much less what exactly he wore. As she approached he began letting down the sails.

A second later, Eos was beside her.

Charlotte startled and reached for skirts to greet the stranger with a courtsey. She then remembered she was wearing a hat and trousers so, instead, Charlotte reached up and removed the hat. With one stiff movement, she placed the hat over her heart, leaned forward in a polite bow, and felt the cheese she'd placed there yesterday slide agonizingly forward off her head.

Turning red, Charlotte straightened and slammed the hat back into place, just barely catching the wrapped cheese before it fell. "Very nice to meet you." She managed.

The goddess' movements were just a little faster then they should be as she copied Charlotte's gestures, placing a hand over her heart and bowing her head. Her eyes were brown but glowed rosy pink where the light hit. The wind that tossed Charlotte's cloak was more playful as it curled around Eos' braids. There was no shadow behind her..

"The honor is mine."

...

Author's Note:

thanks for reading!

Lysani G: thank you!

Ninja Squirrel: Yeah, I'm still figuring things out with the magic lol. I'm glad you enjoyed :)

Ican'tthinkofacleverusername: this took me forever to figure out. new characters are hard lol. Thanks for the review!

Guest: Thanks! I'd been waited for weeks to drop that bomb!

ohmicrofilm: thank you so much: I was hoping people would react like this lol

JanuaryLily; I'm so glad you like my stories. And that I get to torture you for a change. get revenge soon please! love

Again, thank you to everyone who reads and reviews: I will admit the reviews help me write more lol but I appreciate any love given to my story especially as I panic every time i publish whether it'll hold up :P. You all rock!


	16. Chapter 15

Eos and Charlotte stood on the beach for a moment just long enough to feel awkward. Then Eos turned and waved for Charlotte to follow, both of them making their way up a short rope into the ship.

The ship was small enough for one person to crew but big enough that the three of them did not crowd each other as Charlotte began to help them prepare to set sail. It felt almost unreal as the goddess moved effortlessly around the vessel. Charlotte, too, moved almost without any thought at all as Eos and the man gave her directions-tie this, check that. The two of them disappeared below deck every so often before coming up with some supplies or asking Charlotte to go instead. Finally, with a jolt, the sails dropped and the ship moved forward into the ocean.

Charlotte hurried to the rail and watched as the beach and her access to her own tiny, beached rowboat grew further away.

"This is _The Phaeton_." Charlotte turned to find Eos approaching. " _The Daybright_ to some. She'll take you where you want to go."

The man called from somewhere close below deck. "Not as famous as _The Flying Dutchman_ , but she's got her own charm."

Charlotte couldn't quite manage to take her hands off the rail, turning back to find an empty horizon. Too many questions. Too many new, scary things. And those visions...

"There were more bad things that I didn't see." She said finally. "In the visions you gave me."

"Yes."

"Worse things?" Charlotte loosened her grip before she could get a splinter, drumming her fingers now.

"Yes."

"How do I stop them?"

The wind slowed, the ship with it. Waves splashed below and almost drowned out Eos' voice as she replied.

"Simple. Do nothing. Go home. And your family will be fine."

Charlotte spun to stare at the goddess.

"It can't be that easy."

Eos smiled. The pink in her eyes seemed to glow stronger.

"My family will be fine? You can promise?" A nod in reply. "So Elizabeth is safe?"

"Already with the Commodore."

Charlotte looked up at the still sails then down at the dark wood of the ship. A beautiful ship. It felt sturdy. Safe. But the idea of home felt safer. She wouldn't need the sword if she was home.

She started to look toward the sword and then jerked her eyes back to Eos' smile.

So easy.

She set her jaw.

"Will?"

"He will die." Eos shifted her gaze slightly, staring at something far out of Charlotte's sight. "The pirates already sail with him for the Isle de Muerta." Eos shook her head and her eyes focused on Charlotte again. "And Jack, of course, is back in custody."

Charlotte reached up and realized that her hair was already in place and left nothing for her to fidget with. There was no delaying this with fainting or playing ill.

So instead she was frozen.

The world waited and Charlotte couldn't even tremble.

Eos frowned. "You said to the Commodore… something akin to 'shall I sit and do nothing while this happens to another family?'"

She'd said several things to the Commodore.

But Charlotte nodded.

Eos stepped closer, holding out her hands. "You have much to plan for. This ship…" Her hands spread to gesture to _The Phaeton._ "Will take you where _you_ decide to go."

Charlotte let her hand finally go to her sword. "To save Will."

Eos smiled. "Then, someday, you get back on this ship. And you work for me."

More questions.

She started small. "Someday?"

"I've waited hundreds of years. You will come this way again, one way or another." The goddess' expression did not seem to change even a hair, yet the smile suddenly seemed a thousand times less friendly to Charlotte.

"What work?"

"Not every lost soul is meant to be a pirate," The man told her.

"And not every lost soul started off human," Eos added. "You will find them. You will ferry them."

"Where?"

"Wherever they belong." Eos raised a hand and the wind began to pick up again. "That bargain is later. For now, you must hurry."

Charlotte closed her eyes. She saw the dark fort and the gallows, remembered her father's voice in her ear. Her sister in that room atop a mountain of gold, about to be murdered. The sword was a solid reminder in her palm-Will would be there soon. But what was she to do about it? Throw herself in instead? Maybe it was Elizabeth who would be going home to be her father's only daughter.

Except, really… if Charlotte was going to rescue Will… didn't Elizabeth deserve to be at her side?

Didn't she want her sister finally at her side?

Charlotte's eyes snapped open to find that she was alone now. No goddess, no god. They had vanished and now she was alone and the ship was gaining speed.

She wanted James as well if she allowed herself some more wishful thinking.

Charlotte Swann spun on the heel of her boot and charged up a short set of steps, placing herself at the helm of her borrowed boat. She reached for the wheel and then hesitated, not really sure where she was.

A breeze tickled her ear like a question.

"To Will? But take me past Father and Elizabeth and James. Just close enough for them to see me."

The wheel wrenched out of her hand and Charlotte found herself stumbling across the deck as the course changed to follow her directions. She caught herself before she fell completely and tried not to look panicked as the ship continued to control itself.

"I… Thank you, _Phaeton._ "

The ship righted itself and surged forward, faster than Charlotte had ever gone. Her hat flew off almost immediately and her hair began to tangle itself hopelessly behind her, whipping at her face every once in a while just to remind her of the rat nest it was becoming. Her stashed food tumbled to the deck as well and was snatched up and eaten by the suddenly starving Charlotte.

She made her way to the front of the ship as she ate, watching for any sign of life and considering what exactly she'd thrown herself into. What promises she'd have to make or break. What she could ask in return for the work she was going to do.

It never did occur to her to ask how long she would have to do it.


End file.
